Copyright (C) 2004, 2012 by S. A. Reilly
OUR LEGAL HERITAGE
King AEthelbert - King George III, 1776, 600 A.D. - 1776
By
S. A. Reilly, Attorney
175 E. Delaware Place
Chicago, Illinois 60611-7715
S-Reilly@att.net
Copyright (C) 2004, 2012
Preface
This book was written for people with an interest in English legal history who don't know where to start reading, as I didn't. Its purpose is also to look at history through its laws, which do not lend themselves to interpretation, and thus points of view, as does conventional history; one cannot argue with the black letter of the law. Attorneys will be interested in reading about the historical context in which the legal doctrines they learned in law school developed. This book includes the complete law codes of King Alfred and of King Aethelbert, the law code of King Canute, paraphrased, excerpts from the law code of Henry I, the entire Magna Carta, and the statutes of England relevant to English life, but excluding such topics as Scottish affairs and wars with Ireland. It also includes the inception of the common law system, which was praised because it made law which was not handed down by an absolutist king; the origin of the jury system; the meaning of the Magna Carta provisions in their historical context; and the emergence of attorneys. This book is a primer. One may read it without prior knowledge of history or law, although it will be more meaningful to attorneys than to others. It can serve as an introduction on which to base further reading in English legal history. It defines terms unique to English legal history. However, the meaning of some terms in King Aethelbert's code in Chapter 1 are unknown or inexact. In the Table of Contents, the title of each chapter denotes an important legal development in the given time period for that chapter. Each chapter is divided into three sections: The Times, The Law, and Judicial Procedure. The Times section sets a background and context in which to better understand the law of that period. The usual subject matter of history such as battles, wars, royal intrigues, periods of corruption, and international relations are omitted as not helping to understand the process of civilization and development of the law. Standard practices are described, but there are often variations with locality. Also, change did not come abruptly, but with vacillations, e.g. the change from pagan to Christian belief and the change to allowance of loans for interest. The scientific revolution was accepted only slowly. There were often many attempts made for change before it actually occurred, e.g. gaining Parliamentary power over the king's privileges, such as taxation. The Law section describes the law governing the behavior and conduct of the populace. It includes law of that time which is the same, similar, or a building block to the law of today. In earlier times this is both statutory law and the common law of the courts. The Magna Carta, which is quoted in Chapter 7, is the first statute of England and is listed first in the "Statutes of the Realm" and the "Statutes at Large". The law sections of Chapters 7 - 18 mainly quote or paraphrase almost all of these statutes. Excluded are statutes which do not help us understand the development of our law, such as statutes governing Wales after its conquest and statutes on succession rights to the throne. The Judicial Procedure section describes the process of applying the law and trying cases, and jurisdictions. It also contains some examples of cases. Money is expressed in pounds, shillings, pence, scaetts, or marks, which is a Danish denomination. There are twenty shillings in a pound. A mark in silver is two-thirds of a pound. Shillings are abbreviated: "s." The pre-Norman English shilling was divided into 4 pence or pennies. In Henry I's time, the shilling was divided into 5 pence. The Norman shilling was introduced by Henry II and was divided into 12 pennies. This penny was literally one pennyweight of silver, so a pound sterling thus weighed 240 pennyweights. Pence are abbreviated "d.", for the Roman denarius. For example, six shillings and two pence is denoted 6s.2d. A scaett was a coin of silver and copper of lesser denomination; there were 20 scaetts to one shilling. There were no coins of the denomination of shilling during pre-Norman times.
Dedication and Acknowledgements
A Vassar College faculty member once dedicated her book to her students, but for whom it would have been written much earlier. This book "Our Legal Heritage" is dedicated to the faculty of Vassar College, without whom it would never have been written. Much appreciation goes to Professor James Curtin of Loyola Law School for his review and comments on this book's medieval period: Chapters 4-10, and especially his comment that "I learned quite a bit about life in those days from your work." Thanks go to Loyola University Law School Professor George Anastaplo for introducing me to Professor Curtin. Much appreciation goes to Professor Lacey Baldwin Smith of Northwestern University's History Department for his review and comments on this book's Tudor and Stuart periods: Chapters 11-17, especially his comment that he learned a lot. Thanks go to Northwestern University Law School Professor Steven Presser for introducing me to Professor Smith. Finally, many thanks go to fellow Mensan William Wedgeworth for proof-reading the entire book.
Table of Contents
Chapters:
1. Tort law as the first written law: to 600 2. Oaths and perjury: 600-900 3. Marriage law: 900-1066 4. Martial "law": 1066-1100 5. Criminal law and prosecution: 1100-1154 6. Common Law for all freemen: 1154-1215 7. Magna Carta: the first statute: 1215-1272 8. Land law: 1272-1348 9. Legislating the economy: 1348-1399 10. Equity from Chancery Court: 1399-1485 11. Use-trust of land: 1485-1509 12. Wills and testaments of lands and goods: 1509-1558 13. Consideration and contract Law: 1558-1601 14. Welfare for the poor: 1601-1625 15. Independence of the courts: 1625-1642 16. Freedom of religion: 1642-1660 17. Habeas Corpus: 1660-1702 18. Service of Process instead of arrest: 1702-1776
Appendix: Sovereigns of England
Bibliography
Chapter 1
The Times: before 600 A.D.
The settlement of England goes back thousands of years. At first, people hunted and gathered their food. They wore animal skins over their bodies for warmth and around their feet for protection when walking. These skins were sewn together with bone needles and threads made from animal sinews. They carried small items by hooking them onto their belts. They used bone and stone tools, e.g. for preparing skins. Their uncombed hair was held by thistlethorns, animal spines, or straight bone hair pins. They wore conical hats of bound rush and lived in rush shelters.
Early clans, headed by kings, lived in huts on top of hills or other high places and fortified by circular or contour earth ditches and banks behind which they could gather for protection. They were probably dug with antler picks and wood spades. The people lived in rectangular huts with four wood posts supporting a roof. The walls were made of saplings, and a mixture of mud and straw. Cooking was in a clay oven inside or over an open fire on the outside. Water was carried in animal skins or leather pouches from springs lower on the hill up to the settlement. Forests abounded with wolves, bears, deer, wild boars, and wild cattle. They could more easily be seen from the hill tops. Pathways extended through this camp of huts and for many miles beyond.
For wives, men married women of their clan or bought or captured other women, perhaps with the help of a best man. They carried their unwilling wives over the thresholds of their huts, which were sometimes in places kept secret from her family. The first month of marriage was called the honeymoon because the couple was given mead, a drink with fermented honey and herbs, for the first month of their marriage. A wife wore a gold wedding band on the ring finger of her left hand to show that she was married.
Women usually stayed at home caring for children, preparing meals, and making baskets. They also made wool felt and spun and wove wool into a coarse cloth. Flax was grown and woven into a coarse linen cloth. Spinning the strands into one continuous thread was done on a stick, which the woman could carry about and spin at anytime when her hands were free. The weaving was done on an upright or warp-weighted loom. People of means draped the cloth around their bodies and fastened it with a metal brooch inlayed with gold, gems, and shell, which were glued on with glue that was obtained from melting animal hooves. People drank from hollowed- out animal horns, which they could carry from belts. They could tie things with rawhide strips or rope braids they made. Kings drank from animal horns decorated with gold or from cups of amber, shale, or pure gold. Men and women wore pendants and necklaces of colorful stones, shells, amber beads, bones, and deer teeth. They skinned and cut animals with hand-axes and knives made of flint dug up from pits and formed by hitting flakes off. The speared fish with barbed bone prongs or wrapped bait around a flint, bone, or shell fish hook. On the coast, they made bone harpoons for deep-sea fish. The flint ax was used to shape wood and bone and was just strong enough to fell a tree, although the process was very slow.
The king, who was tall and strong, led his men in hunting groups to kill deer and other wild animals in the forests and to fish in the streams. Some men brought their hunting dogs on leashes to follow scent trails to the animal. The men threw stones and spears with flint points at the animals. They used wood clubs to beat them, at the same time using wood shields to protect their bodies. They watched the phases of the moon and learned to predict when it would be full and give the most light for night hunting. This began the concept of a month. Circles of stone like Stonehenge were built with alignments to paths of the moon.
If hunting groups from two clans tried to follow the same deer, there might be a fight between the clans or a blood feud. After the battle, the clan would bring back its dead and wounded. A priest officiated over a funeral for a dead man. His wife would often also go on the funeral pyre with him.
The priest also officiated over sacrifices of humans, who were usually offenders found guilty of transgressions. Sacrifices were usually made in time of war or pestilence, and usually before the winter made food scarce.
The clan ate deer that had been cooked on a spit over a fire, and fruits and vegetables which had been gathered by the women. They drank water from springs. In the spring, food was plentiful. There were eggs of different colors in nests and many hare to eat. The goddess Easter was celebrated at this time.
Later, there was farming and domestication of animals such as horses, pigs, sheep, goats, chicken, and cattle. Of these, the pig was the most important meat supply, being killed and salted for winter use. Next in importance were the cattle. Sheep were kept primarily for their wool. Flocks and herds were taken to pastures. The male cattle, with wood yokes, pulled ploughs in the fields of barley and wheat. The female goat and cow provided milk, butter, and cheese. The chickens provided eggs. The hoe, spade, and grinding stone were used. Thread was spun with a hand-held spindle which one hand held while the other hand alternately formed the thread from a mass and then wound it around the spindle. A coarse cloth was woven and worn as a tunic which had been cut from the cloth. Kings wore tunics decorated with sheet gold. Decorated pottery was made from clay and used to hold liquids and for food preparation and consumption. During the period of "lent" [from the word "lencten", which means spring], it was forbidden to eat any meat or fish. This was the season in which many animals were born and grew to maturity. Wood carts with four wheels were used to transport produce and manure. Horses were used for transportation of people or goods. Wood dug-out boats and paddles were used to fish on rivers or on the seacoast.
Clans had settlements near rivers. Each settlement had a meadow, for the mowing of hay, and a simple mill, with round timber huts, covered with branches or thatch or turf supported by a ring of posts. Inside was a hearth with smoke going up through a hole in the roof, and a cauldron for cooking food. There was an upright loom in the darkness. The floor was swept clean. At the door were spears or bags of slingstones ready for immediate use. The King lived in the largest hut. Gullies outside carried off excess water. Each hut had a garden for fruit and vegetables. A goat or cow might be tied out of reach of the garden. There was a fence or hedge surrounding and protecting the garden area and dwelling. Buckets and cauldrons which had originated from the Mediterranean were used. Querns with the top circular stone turned by hand over the bottom stone were used for grinding grain. There were ovens to dry and roast grain. Grain was first eaten as a porridge or cereal. There were square wood granaries on stilts and wood racks on which to dry hay. Grain was stored in concealed pits in the earth which were lined with drystone or basket work or clay and made airtight by sealing with clay or dung. Old pits were converted into waste dumps, burials, or latrines. Outside the fence were an acre or two of fields of wheat and barley, and sometimes oats and rye. Wheat and rye were sown in the fall, and oats and barley in the spring. Sowing was by men or two oxen drawing a simple scratch plough. The crops were all harvested in the summer. In this two-field system, land was held by peasants in units designed to support a single extended family. These fields were usually enclosed with a hedge to keep animals from eating the crop and to define the territory of the settlement from that of its neighbors. Flax was grown and made into linen cloth. Beyond the fields were pastures for cattle and sheep grazing. There was often an area for beehives. This was subsistence level farming.
Pottery was given symmetry when formed with use of a wheel and heated in increasingly hot kilns. From kilns used for pottery, it was noticed that lumps of gold or copper ore within would melt and assume the shape of what they had been resting on. These were the first metals, and could be beaten into various shapes, such as ornaments. Then the liquid ore was poured into moulds carved out of stones to make axes [small pointed tool for piercing holes in leather, wood, or other soft materials] and daggers, which were reheated and hammered to become strong. Copper-tipped drills, chisels, punches and awls were also made.
The bodies of deceased were buried far away from any village in wood coffins, except for kings, who were placed in large stone coffins after being wrapped in linen. Buried with them were a few personal items, such as copper daggers, flat copper axes, and awls. The deceased was buried in a coffin with a stone on top deep in the earth to keep the spirit of the dead from coming out to haunt the living.
It was learned that tin added to the copper made a stronger metal: bronze. Stone hammers, and bronze and iron tools, were used to make cooking pots, weapons, breast plates, and horse bits, which were formed from moulds and/or forged by bronze smiths and blacksmiths from iron extracted from iron ore heated in bowl- shaped hearths. Typically one man operated the bellows to keep the fire hot while another did the hammering. Bronze was made into sickles for harvesting, razors for shaving, tweezers, straight hair pins, safety pins for clothes, armlets, neck-rings, and mirrors. Weapons included bows and arrows, flint and copper daggers, bronze swords and spears, stone axes, and shields of wood with bronze mountings. The bows and arrows probably evolved from spear throwing rods. Kings in body armor fought with chariots drawn by two horses. The horse harnesses had bronze fittings. The chariots had wood wheels, later with iron rims. When bronze came into use, there was a demand for its constituent parts: copper and tin, which were traded by rafts on waterways and the sea. When iron came into use, there were wrought iron axes, saws, adzes [ax with curved blade used to dress wood], files, ploughshares, harrows [set of spikes to break clods of earth on ploughed land and also to cover seed when sewn], scythes, billhooks [thick knife with hooked point used to prune shrubs], and spits for hearths. Lead was mined. There was some glassmaking of beads. Wrought iron bars were used as currency.
Hillforts now had wooden palisades on top of their banks to protect the enclosed farmsteads and villages from stock wandering off or being taken by rustlers, and from attacks by wild animals or other people. Later a rampart was added from which sentries could patrol. These were supported by timber and/or stone structures. Timbers were probably transported by carts or dragged by oxen. At the entrances were several openings only one of which really allowed entry. The others went between banks into dead ends and served as traps in which to kill the enemy from above. Gates were of wood, some hung from hinges on posts which could be locked. Later guard chambers were added, some with space for hearths and beds. Sometimes further concentric circles of banks and ditches, and perhaps a second rampart, were added around these forts. They could reach to 14 acres. The ramparts are sufficiently widely spaced to make sling-shotting out from them highly effective, but to minimize the dangers from sling-shotting from without. The additional banks and ditches could be used to create cattle corridors or to protect against spear-thrown firebrands. However, few forts had springs of water within them, indicating that attacks on them were probably expected to be short. Attacks usually began with warriors bristling with weapons and blowing war trumpets shouting insults to the foe, while their kings dashed about in chariots. Sometimes champions from each side fought in single combat. They took the heads of those they killed to hang from their belts or place on wood spikes at the gates. Prisoners, including women and children, might become slaves. Kings sometimes lived in separate palisades where they kept their horses and chariots.
Circles of big stones like Stonehenge were rebuilt so that the sun's position with respect to the stones would indicate the day of longest sunlight and the day of shortest sunlight. Between these days there was an optimum time to harvest the crops before fall, when plants dried up and leaves fell from the trees. The winter solstice, when the days began to get longer was cause for celebration. In the next season, there was an optimum time to plant seeds so they could spring up from the ground as new growth. So farming gave rise to the concept of a year. Certain changes of the year were celebrated, such as Easter, named for the Goddess of the Dawn, which occurred in the east (after lent); May Day celebrating the revival of life; Lammas around July, when the wheat crop was ready for harvesting; and on October 31 the Celtic eve of Samhain, when the spirits of the dead came back to visit homes and demand food or else cast an evil spell on the refusing homes; and at which masked and costumed inhabitants representing the souls of the dead paraded to the outskirts of the settlements to lead the ghosts away from their homes; and at which animals and humans, who might be deemed to be possessed by spirits, were sacrificed or killed perhaps as examples, in huge bonfires [bonefires] as those assembled looked out for spirits and evil beings.
There was an agricultural revolution from the two-field system in which one field was fallow to the three-field system, in which there were three large fields for the heavy and fertile land. Each field was divided into long and narrow strips. Each strip represented a day's work with the plough. One field had wheat, or perhaps rye, another had barley, oats, beans, or peas, and the third was fallow. It had been observed that legumes such as peas and beans restored the soil. These were rotated yearly. There was a newly invented plough that was heavy and made of wood and later had an attached iron blade. The plough had a mould-board which caught the soil stirred by the plough blade and threw it into a ridge alongside the furrow dug by the plough blade. This plough was too heavy for two oxen and was pulled by a team of about eight to ten oxen. Each ox was owned by a different man as was the plough, because no one peasant could afford the complete set. Each freeman was allotted certain strips in each field to bear crops. His strips were far from each other, which insured some very fertile and some only fair soil, and some land near his village dwelling and some far away. These strips he cultivated, sowed with seed, and harvested for himself and his family. After the harvest, they reverted to common ownership for grazing by pigs, sheep, and geese. As soon as haymaking was over, the meadows became common grazing land for horses, cows, and oxen. Not just any inhabitant, but usually only those who owned a piece of land in the parish were entitled to graze their animals on the common land, and each owner had this right of pasture for a definite number of animals. The faster horse replaced the ox as the primary work animal. Other farm implements were: coulters, which gave free passage to the plough by cutting weeds and turf, picks, spades and shovels, reaping hooks and scythes, and sledge hammers and anvils. Strips of land for agriculture were added from waste land as the community grew. Waste lands were moors bristling with brushwood, or gorse, heather and wanton weeds, reed-coated marshes, quaking peat-bogs, or woods grown haphazard on sand or rock. With iron axes, forests could be cleared to provide more arable land.
Some villages had a smith, a wheelwright, and a cooper. There were villages which had one or two market days in each week. Cattle, sheep, pigs, poultry, calves, and hare were sold there. London was a town on the Thames River under the protection of the Celtic river god Lud: Lud's town. It's huts were probably built over the water, as was Celtic custom. It was a port for foreign trade. Near the town was Ludhill. Each Celtic tribe in England made its own coinage. Silver and bronze were first used, and then gold. The metal was put into a round form and then placed between two engraved dies, which were hit.
Flint workers mined with deer antler picks and ox shoulder blade shovels for flint to grind into axes, spearheads, and arrowheads. Mine shafts were up to thirty feet deep and necessitated the use of chalk lamps fueled by animal fat with wicks of moss. The flint was hauled up in baskets.
Common men and women were now buried in tombs within memorial burial mounds of earth with stone entrances and interior chambers. A man's weapons and shield were buried with him and a woman's spindle and weaving baton, and perhaps beads or pottery with her. At times, mounds of earth would simply be covered over piles of corpses and ashes in urns. In these mass graves, some corpses had spear holes or sword cuts, indicating death by violence. The Druid priests, the learned class of the Celts, taught the Celts to believe in reincarnation of the soul after death of one body into another body. They also threw prized possessions into lakes and rivers as sacrifices to water gods. They placed images of gods and goddesses in shrines, which were sometimes large enough to be temples. They thought of their gods as supernatural magicians.
With the ability to grow food and the acquisition of land by conquest by invading groups, the population grew. There were different classes of men. The freemen were eorls [noble freemen] or ceorls [ordinary free farmers]. Slaves were not free. Freemen had long hair and beards. Slaves' hair was shorn from their heads so that they were bald. Slaves were chained and often traded. Prisoners taken in battle, especially native Britons taken by invading groups, became slaves. A slave who was captured or purchased was a "theow". An "esne" was a slave who worked for hire. A "weallas" was a Welsh slave. Criminals became slaves of the person wronged or of the king. Sometimes a father pressed by need sold his children or his wife into bondage. Debtors, who increased in number during famine, which occurred regularly, became slaves by giving up the freeman's sword and spear, picking up a slave's mattock [pick ax for the soils], and placing their head within a lord's or lady's hands. They were called wite- theows. The original meaning of the word lord was "loaf-giver". Children with a slave parent were slaves. The slaves lived in huts around the homes of big landholders, which were made of logs and consisted on one large room or hall. An open hearth was in the middle of the earthen floor of the hall, which was strewn with rushes. There was a hole in the roof to let out the smoke. Here the landholder and his men would eat meat, bread, salt, hot spiced ale, and mead while listening to minstrels sing about the heroic deeds of their ancestors. Richer men drank wine. There were festivals which lasted several days, in which warriors feasted, drank, gambled, boasted, and slept where they fell. Physical strength and endurance in adversity were admired traits.
Slaves often were used as grain grinders, ploughmen, sowers, haywards, woodwards, shepherds, goatherds, swineherds, oxherds, cowherds, dairymaids, and barnmen. Slaves had no legal rights. A lord could kill his slave at will. A wrong done to a slave was regarded as done to his owner. If a person killed another man's slave, he had to compensate him with the slave's purchase price. The slave owner had to answer for the offenses of his slaves against others, as for the mischief done by his cattle. Since a slave had no property, he could not be fined for crimes, but was whipped, mutilated, or killed.
During famine, acorns, beans, peas, and even bark were ground down to supplement flour when grain stocks grew low. People scoured the hedgerows for herbs, roots, nettles, and wild grasses, which were usually left for the pigs. Sometimes people were driven to infanticide or group suicide by jumping together off a cliff or into the water.
Several large kingdoms came to replace the many small ones. The people were worshipping pagan gods when St. Augustine came to England in 596 A.D. to Christianize them. King AEthelbert of Kent and his wife, who had been raised Christian on the continent, met him when he arrived. The King gave him land where there were ruins of an old city. Augustine used stones from the ruins to build a church which was later called Canterbury. He also built the first St. Paul's church in London. Aethelbert and his men who fought with him and ate and lived in his household [gesiths] became Christian. A succession of princesses went out from Kent to marry other Saxon kings and convert them to Christianity.
Augustine knew how to write, but King AEthelbert did not. The King announced his laws at meetings of his people and his eorls would decide the punishments. There was a fine of 120s. for disregarding a command of the King. He and Augustine decided to write down some of these laws, which now included the King's new law concerning the church.
These laws concern personal injury, killing, theft, burglary, marriage, adultery, and inheritance. The blood feud's private revenge for killing had been replaced by payment of compensation to the dead man's kindred. One, or one's blood kindred, paid a man's "wergeld" [worth] to his blood kindred for causing his wrongful death. The wergeld [wer] of a king was an unpayable amount of about 7000s., of an aetheling The Law 1. [Theft of] the property of God and of the church [shall be compensated], twelve fold; a bishop's property, eleven fold; a priest's property, nine fold; a deacon's property, six fold; a cleric's property, three fold; church frith [breach of the peace of the church; right of sanctuary and protection given to those within its precincts], two fold [that of ordinary breach of the public peace]; maethl-frith [breach of the peace of a meeting place], two fold. 2. If the King calls his leod [his people] to him, and any one there do them evil, [let him compensate with] a twofold bot [damages for the injury], and 50 shillings fine to the King. 3. If the King drink at any one's home, and any one there do any lyswe [evil deed], let him make twofold bot. 4. If a freeman steal from the King, let him repay nine fold. 5. If a man slay another in the King's tun [enclosed dwelling premises], let him make bot with 50 shillings. 6. If any one slay a freeman, 50 shillings to the King, as drihtin beah [payment to a lord in compensation for killing his freeman]. 7. If the King's ambiht-smith [smith or carpenter] or laad-rine [man who walks before the King or guide or escort], slay a man, let him pay a half wergeld. 8. [Offenses against anyone or any place under] the King's mund byrd [protection or patronage], 50 shillings fine 9. If a freeman steal from a freeman, let him make threefold bot; and let the King have the wite [fine] and all the chattels [necessary to pay the fine]. (Chattels was a variant of "cattle" and was usually a beast, though it could mean any personal property.) 10. If a man lie with the one of the King's female servants, let him pay a bot of 50 shillings. 11. If she be a corn-grinding slave, let him pay a bot of 25 shillings. The third [class of servant] 12 shillings. 12. Let the King's fedesl [tenant or boarder] be paid for with 20 shillings. 13. If a man slay another in an eorl's tun [premises], let [him] make bot with 12 shillings. 14. If a man lie with an eorl's birele [female cupbearer], let him make bot with 20 shillings. 15. [Offenses against a person or place under] a ceorl's mund byrd [protection], 6 shillings. 16. If a man lie with a ceorl's birele [female cupbearer], let him make bot with 6 shillings; with a slave of the second [class], 50 scaetts; with one of the third, 30 scaetts. 17. If any one be the first to invade a man's tun [premises], let him make bot with 6 shillings; let him who follows, with 3 shillings; after, each, a shilling. 18. If a man furnish weapons to another where there is a quarrel, though no injury results, let him make bot with 6 shillings. 19. If a weg-reaf [highway robbery] be done [with weapons furnished by another], let him [the man who provided the weapons] make bot with 6 shillings. 20. If the man be slain, let him [the man who provided the weapons] make bot with 20 shillings. 21. If a [free] man slay another, let him make bot with a half wergeld of 100 shillings. 22. If a man slay another, at the open grave let him pay 20 shillings, and pay the whole wergeld within 40 days. 23. If the slayer departs from the land, let his kindred pay a half leod. 24. If any one bind a freeman, let him make bot with 20 shillings. 25. If any one slay a ceorl's half-aeta [loaf or bread eater; domestic or menial servant], let him make bot with 6 shillings. 26. If [anyone] slay a laet [semi-slave] of the highest class, let him pay 80 shillings; of the second class, let him pay 60 shillings; of the third class, let him pay 40 shillings. 27. If a freeman commit edor-breach [breaking through the fenced enclosure and forcibly entering a ceorl's dwelling], let him make bot with 6 shillings. 28. If any one take property from a dwelling, let him pay a three-fold bot. 29. If a freeman goes with hostile intent through an edor [the fence enclosing a dwelling], let him make bot with 4 shillings. 30. If [in so doing] a man slay another, let him pay with his own money, and with any sound property whatever. 31. If a freeman lie with a freeman's wife, let him pay for it with his wergeld, and obtain another wife with his own money, and bring her to the other [man's dwelling]. 32. If any one thrusts through the riht-ham-scyld [legal means of protecting one's home; the perimeter of a homestead], let him adequately compensate. 33. If there be feax-fang [seizing someone by the hair], let there be 50 sceatts for bot. 34. If there be an exposure of the bone, let bot be made with 3 shillings. 35. If there be a cutting of the bone, let bot be made with 4 shillings. 36. If the outer hion [outer membrane covering the brain] be broken, let bot be made with 10 shillings. 37. If it be both [outer and inner membranes covering the brain], let bot be made with 20 shillings. 38. If a shoulder be lamed, let bot be made with 30 shillings. 39. If an ear be struck off, let bot be made with 12 shillings. 40. If the other ear hear not, let bot be made with 25 shillings. 41. If an ear be pierced, let bot be made with 3 shillings. 42. If an ear be mutilated, let bot be made with 6 shillings. 43. If an eye be [struck] out, let bot be made with 50 shillings. 44. If the mouth or an eye be injured, let bot be made with 12 shillings. 45. If the nose be pierced, let bot be made with 9 shillings. 46. If it be one ala, let bot be made with 3 shillings. 47. If both be pierced, let bot be made with 6 shillings. 48. If the nose be otherwise mutilated, for each [cut, let] bot be made with 6 shillings. 49. If it be pierced, let bot be made with 6 shillings. 50. Let him who breaks the jaw bone pay for it with 20 shillings. 51. For each of the four front teeth, 6 shillings; for the tooth which stands next to them 4 shillings; for that which stands next to that, 3 shillings; and then afterwards, for each a shilling. 52. If the speech be injured, 12 shillings. If the collar bone be broken, let bot be made with 6 shillings. 53. Let him who stabs [another] through an arm, make bot with 6 shillings. If an arm be broken, let him make bot with 6 shillings. 54. If a thumb be struck off, 20 shillings. If a thumb nail be off, let bot be made with 3 shillings. If the shooting [fore] finger be struck off, let bot be made with 8 shillings. If the middle finger be struck off, let bot be made with 4 shillings. If the gold [ring] finger be struck off, let bot be made with 6 shillings. If the little finger be struck off, let bot be made with 11 shillings. 55. For every nail, a shilling. 56. For the smallest disfigurement of the face, 3 shillings; and for the greater, 6 shillings. 57. If any one strike another with his fist on the nose, 3 shillings. 58. If there be a bruise [on the nose], a shilling; if he receive a right hand bruise [from protecting his face with his arm], let him [the striker] pay a shilling. 59. If the bruise [on the arm] be black in a part not covered by the clothes, let bot be made with 30 scaetts. 60. If it be covered under the clothes, let bot for each be made with 20 scaetts. 61. If the belly be wounded, let bot be made with 12 shillings; if it be pierced through, let bot be made with 20 shillings. 62. If any one needs medical attention, let bot be made with 30 shillings. 63. If any one be cearwund [badly wounded], let bot be made with 3 shillings. 64. If any one destroy [another's] organ of generation [penis], let him pay him with 3 wergelds: if he pierce it through, let him make bot with 6 shillings; if it be pierced within, let him make bot with 6 shillings. 65. If a thigh be broken, let bot be made with 12 shillings; if the man become halt [lame], then friends must arbitrate. 66. If a rib be broken, let bot be made with 3 shillings. 67. If [the skin of] a thigh be pierced through, for each stab 6 shillings; if [the wound be] above an inch [deep], a shilling; for two inches, 2; above three, 3 shillings. 68. If a sinew be wounded, let bot be made with 3 shillings. 69. If a foot be cut off, let 50 shillings be paid. 70. If a great toe be cut off, let 10 shillings be paid. 71. For each of the other toes, let one half that for the corresponding finger be paid. 72. If the nail of a great toe be cut off, 30 scaetts for bot; for each of the others, make bot with 10 scaetts. 73. If a freewoman loc-bore [with long hair] commit any leswe [evil deed], let her make a bot of 30 shillings. 74. Let maiden bot [compensation for injury to an unmarried woman] be as that of a freeman. 75. For [breach of] the mund [protection] of a widow of the best class, of an eorl's degree, let the bot be 50 shillings; of the second, 20 shillings; of the third, 12 shillings; of the fourth, 6 shillings. 76. If a man carry off a widow not under his own protection by right, let the mund be twofold. 77. If a man buy a maiden as wife, let the bargain stand, if it be without fraud; but if there be fraud, let him bring her home again, and let his property be restored to him. 78. If she bear a live child, she shall have half the property, if the husband die first. 79. If she wish to go away with her children, she shall have half the property. 80. If the husband wish to keep them [the children], [she shall have the same portion] as one child. 81. If she bear no child, her paternal kindred shall have the fioh [her money and chattels] and the morgen-gyfe [morning gift: a gift made to the bride by her husband on the morning following the consummation of the marriage]. 82. If a man carry off a maiden by force, let him pay 50 shillings to her controller, and afterwards buy the consent of the controller [to the marriage]. 83. If she be betrothed to another man and money has changed hands, let him [who carried her off] make bot [to the intended bridegroom] with 20 shillings. 84. If restitution [of the girl] is made, bot of 35 shillings; and 15 shillings to the King. 85. If a man lie with an esne's [slave's]wife, her husband still living, let him make twofold bot. 86. If one esne [slave] slay another unoffending, let him pay for him at his full worth. 87. If an esne's [slave's] eye and foot be struck out or off, let him be paid for at his full worth. 88. If any one bind another man's esne [slave], let him make bot with 6 shillings. 89. Let [compensation for] weg-reaf [highway robbery] of a theow [slave] be 3 shillings. 90. If a theow steal, let him [the owner] make twofold bot [twice the value of the stolen goods]." Judicial Procedure The King and his freemen would hear and decide cases of wrongful behavior such as breach of the peace. Punishment would be given to the offender by the community. The bots, wers, and wites were high and often could not be paid. If a man could not or would not pay, he could be outlawed, to be killed by anyone with impunity or punished by hanging; beheading; burning; drowning; stoning; precipitation from a cliff; loss of ears, nose, upper-lip, hands and feet; castration; flogging; or sale into slavery. There were occasional meetings of "hundreds", which were 100 households, to settle widespread disputes. The chief officer was "hundreder" or "constable". He was responsible for keeping the peace of the hundred. The concept of a wrong to a person or his kindred is still primary and that of offense to the community secondary. Very slowly did the concept emerge that that members of the community must be content with legal remedies and must not seek private vengeance and that public offenses cannot be altered by private agreement. The Druid priests decided all disputes of the Celts. The Times: 600-900 The country was inhabited by Anglo-Saxons. The French called it A community was usually an extended family. Its members lived a village in which a stone church was the most prominent building. They lived in one-room huts with walls and roofs made of wood, mud, and straw. Hangings covered the cracks in the walls to keep the wind out. Smoke from a fire in the middle of the room filtered out of cracks in the roof. Grain was ground at home by rotating by hand one stone disk on another stone disk. Some villages had a mill powered by the flow of water or by horses. All freeholders had the duty of watch [at night] and ward [during the day], of following the hue and cry to chase an offender, and of taking the oath of peace. These three duties were constant until 1195. Farmland surrounded the villages and was farmed by the community as a whole under the direction of a lord. There was silver, copper, iron, tin, gold, and various types of stones from remote lead mines and quarries in the nation. Silver pennies replaced the smaller scaetts. Freemen paid "scot" and bore "lot" according to their means for local purposes. Offa, the strongest of the Saxon kings, minted high-quality silver pennies. He traded woolen coats for lava grindstones with Emperor Charlemagne, who used a silver denarius coin. There were 12 denarii to the solidus and 20 soldi to the pound of silver. These denominations were taken by England as 12 pennies to the shilling and 20 shillings to the pound. The pound sign, an "L" with a hash mark derived from the word Libra, which meant weighing scales. Everyone in the village went to church on Sunday and brought gifts such as grain to the priest. Later, contributions in the form of money became customary, and then expected. These "tithes" were spent for church repair, the clergy, and poor and needy laborers. The church fixed the amount to be one-tenth, but local custom determined the amount. There was also church-scot: a payment to the clergy in lieu of the first fruits of the land. There were also offerings, originally voluntary but afterwards compulsory, for sacraments. The priest was the chaplain of a landlord and his parish was coextensive with that landlord's holding and could include one to several villages. The priest and other men who helped him, lived in the church building. Some churches had lead roofs and iron hinges, latches, and locks on their doors. The land underneath had been given to the church by former kings and persons who wanted the church to say prayers to help their souls go from purgatory to heaven and who also selected the first priest. The priest conducted Christianized Easter ceremonies in the spring and (Christ's mass) ceremonies in winter in place of the pagan Yuletide festivities. Burning incense took the place of pagan burnt animal offerings, which were accompanied by incense to disguise the odor of burning flesh. Holy water replaced haunted wells and streams. Christian incantations replaced sorcerer's spells. Nuns assisted priests in celebrating mass and administering the sacraments. They alone consecrated new nuns. Vestry meetings were community meetings held for church purposes. The people said their prayers in English, and the priest conducted the services in English. A person joined his hands in prayer as if to offer them for binding together in submission. The church baptized babies and officiated or gave blessings at marriage ceremonies. It also said prayers for the dying, gave them funerals, and buried them. There were burial service fees, candle dues, and plough alms. A piece of stone with the dead person's name marked his grave. It was thought that putting the name on the grave would assist identification of that person for being taken to heaven. The church heard the last wish or will of the person dying concerning who he wanted to have his property. The church taught that it was not necessary to bury possessions with the deceased. The church taught boys and girls. Every man carried a horn slung on his shoulder as he went about his work so that he could at once send out a warning to his fellow villagers or call them in chasing a thief or other offender. The forests were full of outlaws, so strangers who did not blow a horn to announce themselves were presumed to be fugitive offenders who could be shot on sight with impunity. An eorl could call upon the ceorl farmers for about forty days to fight off an invading group. There were several kingdoms, whose boundaries kept changing due to warfare, which was a sin according to the church. They were each governed by a king and witan of wise men who met at a witanegemot, which was usually held three times a year, mostly on great church festivals and at the end of the harvest. The king and witan chose the witan's members of bishops, eorldormen, and thegns [landholding farmers]. The king and hereditary claims played a major part in the selection of the eorldormen, who were the highest military leaders and often of the royal family. They were also chief magistrates of large jurisdictional areas of land. The witan included officers of the king's household and perhaps other of his retinue. There was little distinction then between his gesith, fighting men, guards, household companions, dependents, and servants. The king was sometimes accompanied by his wife and sons at the witanagemot. A king was selected by the witan according to his worthiness, usually from among the royal family, and could be deposed by it. The witan and king decided on laws, taxes, and transfers of land. They made determinations of war and peace and directed the army and the fleet. The king wore a crown or royal helmet. He extended certain protections by the king's peace. He could erect castles and bridges and could provide a special protection to strangers. A king had not only a wergeld to be paid to his family if he were killed, but a "cynebot" of equal amount that would be paid to his kingdom's people. A king's household had a chamberlain for the royal bedchamber, a marshall to oversee the horses and military equipment, a steward as head of household, and a cupbearer. The king had income from fines for breach of his peace; fines and forfeitures from courts dealing with criminal and civil cases; salvage from ship wrecks; treasure trove [assets hidden or buried in times of war]; treasures of the earth such as gold and silver; mines; saltworks; tolls and other dues of markets, ports, and the routes by land and by river generally; heriot from heirs of his special dependents for possession of land (usually in kind, principally in horses and weapons). He also had rights of purveyance [hospitality and maintenance when traveling]. The king had private lands, which he could dispose of by his will. He also had crown lands, which belonged to his office and could not be alienated without consent of the witan. Crown lands often included palaces and their appendant farms, and burhs. It was a queen's duty to run the royal estate. Also, a queen could possess, manage, and dispose of lands in her name. Violent queens waged wars. Kingdoms were often allied by marriage between their royal families. There were also royal marriages to royalty on the continent. The houses of the wealthy had ornamented silk hangings on the walls. Some had fine white ox horn shaved so thin they were transparent for windows. Brightly colored drapery, often purple, and fly nets surrounded their beds, which were covered with the fur of animals. They slept in bed clothes on pillows stuffed with straw. Tables plated with silver and gems held silver candlesticks, gold and silver goblets and cups, and lamps of gold, silver, or glass. They used silver mirrors and silver writing pens. There were covered seats, benches, and footstools with the head and feet of animals at their extremities. They ate from a table covered with a cloth. Servants brought in food on spits, from which they ate. Food was boiled, broiled, or baked. The wealthy ate wheat bread and others ate barley bread. Ale made from barley was passed around in a cup. Mead made from honey was also drunk. Men wore long-sleeved wool and linen garments reaching almost to the knee, around which they wore a belt tied in a knot. Men often wore a gold ring on the fourth finger of the right hand. Leather shoes were fastened with leather thongs around the ankle. Their hair was parted in the middle and combed down each side in waving ringlets. The beard was parted in the middle of the chin, so that it ended in two points. The clergy did not wear beards. Great men wore gold-embroidered clothes, gilt buckles and brooches, and drank from drinking horns mounted in silver gilt or in gold. Well- to-do women wore brightly colored robes with waist bands, headbands, necklaces, gem bracelets, and rings. Their long hair was in ringlets and they put rouge on their cheeks. They had beads, pins, needles, tweezers of bronze, and workboxes of bronze, some highly ornamented. They were often doing needlework. Silk was affordable only by the wealthy. Most families kept a pig and pork was the primary meat. There were also sheep, goats, cows, deer, hare, and fowl. Fowl was obtained by fowlers who trapped them. The inland waters yielded eels, salmon, and trout. In the fall, meat was salted to preserve it for winter meals. There were orchards growing figs, nuts, grapes, almonds, pears, and apples. Also produced were beans, lentils, onions, eggs, cheese, and butter. Pepper and cinnamon were imported. Fishing from the sea yielded herrings, sturgeon, porpoise, oysters, crabs, and other fish. Sometimes a whale was driven into an inlet by a group of boats. Whale skins were used to make ropes. The roads were not much more than trails. They were often so narrow that two pack horses could hardly pass each other. The pack horses each carried two bales or two baskets slung over their backs, which balanced each other. The soft soil was compacted into a deep ditch which rains, floods, and tides, if near the sea, soon turned into a river. Traveling a far distance was unsafe as there were robbers on the roads. Traveling strangers were distrusted. It was usual to wash one's feet in a hot tub after traveling and to dry them with a rough wool cloth. There were superstitions about the content of dreams, the events of the moon, and the flights and voices of birds were often seen as signs or omens of future events. Herbal mixtures were drunk for sickness and maladies. From the witch hazel plant was made a mild alcoholic astringent, which was probably used to clean cuts and sooth abrasions. In the peaceful latter part of the 600s, Theodore, who had been a monk in Rome, was appointed archbishop and visited all the island speaking about the right rule of life and ordaining bishops to oversee the priests. Each kingdom was split up into dioceses each with one bishop. Thereafter, bishops were selected by the king and his witan, usually after consulting the clergy and even the people of the diocese. The bishops came to be the most permanent element of society. They had their sees in villages or rural monasteries. The bishops came to have the same wergeld as an eorldorman: 1200s., which was the price of about 500 oxen. A priest had the wergeld as a landholding farmer [thegn], or 300s. The bishops spoke Latin, but the priests of the local parishes spoke English. Theodore was the first archbishop whom all the English church obeyed. He taught sacred and secular literature, the books of holy writ, ecclesiastical poetry, astronomy, arithmetic, and sacred music. Theodore discouraged slavery by denying Christian burial to the kidnapper and forbidding the sale of children over the age of seven. A slave became entitled to two loaves a day and to his holydays. A slave was allowed to buy his or his children's freedom. In 673, Theodore started annual national ecclesiastical assemblies, for instance for the witnessing of important actions. The bishops, some abbots, the king, and the eorldormen were usually present. From them the people learned the benefit of common national action. There were two archbishops: one of Canterbury in the south and one of York in the north. They governed the bishops and could meet with them to issue canons that would be equally valid all over the land. A bishop's house contained some clerks, priests, monks, and nun and was a retreat for the weary missionary and a school for the young. The bishop had a deacon who acted as a secretary and companion in travel, and sometimes as an interpreter. Ink was made from the outer husks of walnuts steeped in vinegar. The learned ecclesiastical life flourished in monastic communities, in which both monks and nuns lived. Hilda, a noble's daughter, became the first nun in Northumbria and abbess of one of its monasteries. There she taught justice, piety, chastity, peace, and charity. Several monks taught there later became bishops. Kings and princes often asked her advice. Many abbesses came to run monastic communities; they were from royal families. Women, especially from royal families, fled to monasteries to obtain shelter from unwanted marriage or to avoid their husbands. Kings and eorldormen retired to them. Danish Vikings made several invasions in the 800s, so the witan imposed a danegeld tax on land that was assessed on everyone every ten to twenty years for maintaining forces sufficient to clear the British seas of Danish pirates or to buy off the ravages of the Danish It was 1s. and later 2s. upon every hide of land, where a hide was probably the amount of land which could support a family or household for a year or as much land as could be tilled annually by a single plough. It was stored in a strong box under the King's bed. King Alfred the Great, who had lived for awhile in Rome, unified the country to defeat the invaders. He established fortifications called "burhs", usually on hill tops or other strategic locations on the borders to control the main road and river routes into his realm. The burhs were seminal towns. They were typically walled enclosures with towers and an outer ditch and mound, instead of the hedge or fence enclosure of a tun. Inside were several wooden thatched huts and a couple of churches, which were lit by earthen oil lamps. The populace met at burhgemotes. The land area protected by each burh became known as a "shire", which means a share of a larger whole. The shire or local landowners were responsible for repairing the burh fortifications. There were about thirty shires. Alfred gathered together fighting men who were at his disposal, which included eorldormen with their hearthbands (retinues of men each of whom had chosen to swear to fight to the death for their eorldorman, and some of whom were of high rank), the King's thegns, shire thegns (local landholding farmers, who were required to bring fighting equipment such as swords, helmets, chain mail, and horses), and ordinary freemen, i.e. ceorls (who carried food, dug fortifications, and sometimes fought). Since the King was compelled to call out the whole population to arms, the distinction between the king's thegns from other landholders disappeared. Some great lords organized men under them, whom they provisioned. These vassals took a personal oath to their lord "on condition that he keep me as I am willing to deserve, and fulfill all that was agreed on when I became his man, and chose his will as mine." Alfred had a small navy of longships with 60 oars to fight the Viking longships. Alfred divided his army into two parts so that one half of the men were fighting while the other half was at home sowing and harvesting for those fighting. Thus, any small-scale independent farming was supplanted by the open-field system, cultivation of common land, more large private estates headed by a lord, and a more stratified society in which the king and important families more powerful and the peasants more curtailed. The witan became mere witnesses. Many free coerls of the older days became bonded. The village community tended to become a large private estate headed by a lord. But the lord does not have the power to encroach upon the rights of common that exist within the community. In 886, a treaty between Alfred and the Vikings divided the country along the war front and made the wergeld of every free farmer, whether English or Viking, 200s. Men of higher rank were given a wergeld of 4 1/2 marks of pure gold. A mark was probably a Viking denomination and a mark of gold was equal to nine marks of silver in later times and probably in this time. The word "earl" replaced the word "eorldormen" and the word "thegn" replaced the word "aetheling" after the Danish settlement. The ironed pleats of Viking clothing indicated a high status of the wearer. The Vikings brought combs and the practice of regular hair-combing to England. King Alfred gave land with jurisdictional powers within its boundaries such as the following: "This is the bequest which King Alfred make unequivocally to Shaftesbury, to the praise of God and St. Mary and all the saints of God, for the benefit of my soul, namely a hundred hides as they stand with their produce and their men, and my daughter AEthelgifu to the convent along with the inheritance, since she took the veil on account of bad health; and the jurisdiction to the convent, which I myself possessed, namely obstruction and attacks on a man's house and breach of protection. And the estates which I have granted to the foundation are 40 hides at Donhead and Compton, 20 hides at Handley and Gussage 10 hides at Tarrant, 15 hides at Iwerve and 15 hides at Fontmell. The witnesses of this are Edward my son and Archbishop AEthelred and Bishop Ealhferth and Bishop AEthelhead and Earl Wulfhere and Earl Eadwulf and Earl Cuthred and Abbot Tunberht and Milred my thegn and AEthelwulf and Osric and Brihtulf and Cyma. If anyone alters this, he shall have the curse of God and St. Mary and all the saints of God forever to all eternity. Amen." Sons usually succeeded their fathers on the same land as shown by this lifetime lease: "Bishop Denewulf and the community at Winchester lease to Alfred for his lifetime 40 hides of land at Alresford, in accordance with the lease which Bishop Tunbriht had granted to his parents and which had run out, on condition that he renders every year at the autumnal equinox three pounds as rent, and church dues, and the work connected with church dues; and when the need arises, his men shall be ready both for harvesting and hunting; and after his death the property shall pass undisputed to St. Peter's. These are the signatures of the councilors and of the members of the community who gave their consent, namely …" Alfred invented a graduated candle with spaces indicating one hour of burning, which could be used as a clock. He used a ventilated cow's horn to put around the top of the candle to prevent its blowing out, and then devised a wooden lantern with a horn window. He described the world as like a yolk in the middle of an egg whose shell moves around it. This agreed with the position of Ptolemy Claudius of Alexandria, who showed the curvature of the earth from north to south by observing that the Polar Star was higher in the north and lower in the south. That it was curved from east to west followed from the observation that two clocks placed one west and one east would record a different time for the same eclipse of the moon. Alfred wrote poems on the worthiness of wisdom and knowledge in preference to material pleasures, pride, and fame, in dealing with life's sorrow and strife. His observations on human nature and his proverbs include: 1. As one sows, so will he mow. 2. Every man's doom [judgment] returns to his door. 3. He who will not learn while young, will repent of it when old. 4. Weal [prosperity] without wisdom is worthless. 5. Though a man had 70 acres sown with red gold, and the gold grew like grass, yet he is not a whit the worthier unless he gain friends for himself. 6. Gold is but a stone unless a wise man has it. 7. It's hard to row against the sea flood; so it is against misfortune. 8. He who toils in his youth to win wealth, so that he may enjoy ease in his old age, has well bestowed his toil. 9. Many a man loses his soul through silver. 10. Wealth may pass away, but wisdom will remain, and no man may perish who has it for his comrade. 11. Don't choose a wife for her beauty nor for wealth, but study her disposition. 12. Many an apple is bright without and bitter within. 13. Don't believe the man of many words. 14. With a few words a wise man can compass much. 15. Make friends at market, and at church, with poor and with rich. 16. Though one man wielded all the world, and all the joy that dwells therein, he could not therewith keep his life. 17. Don't chide with a fool. 18. A fool's bolt is soon shot. 19. If you have a child, teach it men's manners while it is little. If you let him have his own will, he will cause you much sorrow when he comes of age. 20. He who spares the rod and lets a young child rule, shall rue it when the child grows old. 21. Either drinking or not drinking is, with wisdom, good. 22. Relatives often quarrel together. 23. The barkless dog bites ill. 24. Be wise of word and wary of speech, then all shall love you. 25. We may outride, but not outwit, the old man. 26. Be not so mad as to tell your friend all your thoughts. 27. If you and your friend fall out, then your enemy will know what your friend knew before. 28. Don't choose a deceitful man as a friend, for he will do you harm. 29. The false one will betray you when you least expect it. 30. Don't choose a scornful false friend, for he will steal your goods and deny the theft. 31. Take to yourself a steadfast man who is wise in word and deed; he will prove a true friend in need. To restore education and religion, Alfred disseminated the Anglo- Saxon Chronicles; the Venerable Bede's Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation; the "Consolidation of Philosophy" by Roman philosopher Boethius, which related the use of adversity to develop the soul, and described the goodness of God and how the highest happiness comes from spiritual values and the soul, which are eternal, rather than from material or earthly pursuits, which are temporal; and Pope Gregory's Pastoral Care, which he had translated into English and was the fundamental book on the duty of a bishop, which included a duty to teach laymen; and Orosius' History of the World, which he had translated into English. Alfred's advice to pastors was to live as they had been taught from books and to teach this manner of life to others. To be avoided was pride, the mind's deception of seeking glory in the name of doing good works, and the corruption of high office. Bede was England's first scholar, first theologian, and first historian. He wrote poetry, theological books, homilies, and textbooks on grammar, rhetoric [public speaking and debating], arithmetic, and astronomy. He adhered to the doctrine that death entered the world by the sin of Adam, the first man. He began the practice of dating years from the birth of Christ and believed that the earth was round. Over the earth was a fiery spherical firmament. Above this were the waters of the heavens. Above this were the upper heavens, which contained the angels and was tempered with ice. He declared that comets portend downfalls of kingdoms, pestilence, war, winds, or heat. This reflected the church's view that a comet was a ball of fire flung from the right hand of an angry God as a warning to mankind, usually for disbelief. Storms were begun by the devil. A famous poem, the oral legend of Beowulf, a hero who led his men into adventures and performed great feats and fought monsters and dragons, was put into writing with a Christian theme. In it, loyalty to one's lord is a paramount virtue. Also available in writing was the story of King Arthur's twelve victorious battles against the pagan Saxons, authored by Nennius. There were professional story tellers attached to great men. Others wandered from court to court, receiving gifts for their story telling. Men usually told oral legends of their own feats and those of their ancestors after supper. Alfred had monasteries rebuilt with learned and moral men heading them. He built a nunnery which was headed by his daughter as prioress. He built a strong wall with four gates around London, which he had taken into his control. He appointed his son-in-law, who was one of his eorldormen, to be alderman [older man] to govern London and to be the shire's earl. A later king built a palace in London, although Winchester was still the royal capital town. When the king traveled, he and his retinue were fed by the local people at their expense. After Alfred's death, his daughter Aethelflared ruled the country for seven years. She had more fortified burhs built and led soldiers to victories. Burhs grew into towns and some towns into boroughs by obtaining a charter from the king. Their citizens were landholding freemen called."burgesses". A borough typically was a place of refuge with earth works, and perhaps a garrrison; it had a market place in which men could buy cattle and other goods and have the sale attested by official witnesses and toll was taken from them; and it had a meeting place at which a court was held. Under the royalty were the nobles. An earl headed each shire as representative of the King. The term "earl" came to denote an office instead of a nobleman. He led the array of his shire to do battle if the shire was attacked. He executed all royal commands. An earl received grants of land and could claim hospitality and maintenance for himself, his officers, and his servants. He collected a third of the revenues derived from tolls and duties levied in the boroughs of his shire. The office tended to be hereditary. Royal representatives called "reeves" started to assist them. The reeve took security from every person for the maintenance of the public peace. He also tracked cattle thieves, brought suspects to court, gave judgments according to the doom books, and delivered offenders to punishment. Under the earls were the thegns. By service to the King, it was possible for a coerl to rise to become a thegn and to be given land by the King. Other thegns performed functions of magistrates. A thegn was later identified as a person with five hides of land, a kitchen, a church, a bell house, a judicial place at the burhgemote It was possible for a thegn to become an earl, probably by the possession of forty hides. He might even acquire enough land to qualify him for the witan. Women could be present at the witanagemot and shiregemote [meeting of the people of the shire]. They could sue and be sued in the courts. They could independently inherit, possess, and dispose of property. A wife's inheritance was her own and under no control of her husband. Marriage required the consent of the lady and her friends. The man also had to arrange for the foster lean, that is, remuneration for rearing and support of expected children. He also declared the amount of money or land he would give the lady for her consent, that is, the morgengift, and what he would bequeath her in case of his death. It was given to her on the morning after the wedding night. The family of the bride was paid a "mund" for transferring the rightful protection they possessed over her to the family of the husband. If the husband died and his kindred did not accept the terms sanctioned by law, her kindred could repurchase the rightful protection. If she remarried within a year of his death, she had to forfeit the morgengift and his nearest kin received the lands and possessions she had. The word for man was "waepnedmenn" or weaponed person. A woman was "wifmenn" or wife person, with "wif" being derived from the word for weaving. Great men and monasteries had millers, smiths, carpenters, architects, agriculturists, fishermen, weavers, embroiders, dyers, and illuminators. For entertainment, minstrels sang ballads about heroes or Bible stories, harpers played, jesters joked, and tumblers threw and caught balls and knives. There was gambling, dice games, and chasing deer with hounds. Fraternal guilds were established for mutual advantage and protection. A guild imposed fines for any injury of one member by another member. It assisted in paying any murder fine imposed on a member. It avenged the murder of a member and abided by the consequences. It buried its members and purchased masses for his soul. Mercantile guilds in seaports carried out commercial speculations not possible by the capital of only one person. There were some ale houses, probably part of certain dwellings. It was usual for a dying man to confess his sins to a priest. For the sake of his soul, the priest often suggested the man give some of his chattel to the church, the poor, or other pious uses. By the 700s, the words of a dying man giving chattel for the sake of his soul were expected to be carried out. Later is the "post obit gift" by which a man gives land to the church, with the king's consent, but enjoys the land during his lifetime by stating in writing "I give certain land after my death" in a special "book". The church takes possession of the land after his death. He may make a conditional such gift, leaving the land to his wife for her life with a rent paid to the church and the church taking possession of the land on her death. These two procedures coalesce into one written will used in the 800s, 900s, and 1000s. This will also includes distributions to family and kinsmen and perhaps to creditors. If the will is made by the very great people: kings, queens, king's sons, bishops, earldormen, and king's thegns, it requires the king's consent, which may be bought by a large heriot. And a bishop usually sets his cross to the will, denouncing any who infringe it to the torments of hell. The dead man's parish church is paid a mortuary when he is buried. The Law The special authority of the king and his peace gradually superseded the customary jurisdiction of the local courts as to preservation of the peace and punishment of offenses. All criminal offenses became breaches of the king's peace and were deemed acts of personal disobedience and made an offender the king's enemy. This notion developed from the special sanctity of the king's house and his special protection of his attendants and servants. An offender made fines to the king for breach of his peace and fines and forfeitures to him from court decisions in criminal and civil cases. Offenses especially dealt with in various parts of the Anglo-Saxon laws were treason, homicide, wounding, assault, and theft. Treason to one's lord, especially to the king, was punishable by death. Compassing or imagining the king's death was treason. King Alfred collected regulations from various church synods and commanded that many of them which English forefathers had observed to be written out - those which appealed to him; and many of those that did not appeal to him he rejected, with the consent of his Witan or commanded them to be observed in a different way. "These are the regulations which the Almighty God himself spoke to Moses and ordered him to observe and subsequently the only-born son of the Lord, our God, that is the Savior Christ confirmed …": 1. Do not love other strange gods before me. 2. Do not speak My name idly, for you will not be guiltless with Me if you idly speak My name. 3. Remember to hallow the rest-day. Work for yourselves six days, and on the seventh day rest yourselves. For in six days, God the Father made the heavens and the earth, the seas and all creatures that are in them, and rested himself on the seventh day, and therefore God has sanctified it. 4. Honour your father and your mother that God gave you so that you may be the longer living on earth. 5. Do not kill. 6. Do not lie in sexual union secretly. 7. Do not steal. 8. Do not speak false evidence. 9. Do not wish for your neighbour's property unrightfully. 10. Do not make yourselves golden or silver gods. 11. If anyone buy a Christian slave, let him serve for six years and on the seventh let him be free without payment. With such clothes as he entered into service, let him leave with. If he has a wife of his own providing, let her leave with him. If the master provided him with a wife, both she and her children shall belong to the master. If the slave then says `I do not want to leave my master or my wife or my child or my property', let his master bring him to the door of the Temple and perforate his ear with an awl as a sign that he shall ever afterwards be a slave. 12. Though someone sell his daughter into slavery do not let her be a slave entirely as are other maid servants. He has not the right to sell her abroad among foreign people. But if he who bought her does not care for her, let her be free among a foreign people. But if he i.e. the purchaser allows his son to cohabit with her, give her the morning gift and ensure that she has clothing and that she has the value of her maidenhood, that is the dowry - let him give her that. If he does none of those things for her, then she shall be free. 13. The person who slays another deliberately shall suffer death. He that has killed another in self defense or involuntarily or unintentionally, as God delivered him i.e. the victim into his hands and providing he i.e. the killer did not set a trap for him - in that case let him be worthy of his life, and of settling by customary compensation, if he should seek asylum. If however anyone deliberately and intentionally kills his neighbour treacherously, pluck him from my altar so that he should suffer death. 14. He that attacks his father or his mother shall suffer death. 15. He that abducts a freeman and sell him, and it is proved so that he cannot absolve himself, let him suffer death. He that curses his father or his mother, let him suffer death. 16. If someone attacks his neighbour with a stone or with his fist, but he i.e. the victim can still get about with the aid of a staff, let him i.e. the aggressor provide him with a doctor and do his i.e. the victim's work for him for as long as he i.e. the victim cannot himself. 17. He that attacks his own non-free servant or his maidservant, and they are not dead as a result of the attack but live two or three days, he i.e. the aggressor shall not be so entirely guilty, because it was his own property he damaged. But if the slave be dead the same day, then the guilt rests on him i.e. the aggressor. 18. If anyone in the course of a dispute injure a pregnant woman, let him make compensation for the hurt as judges decide in his case. If she be dead, let him give life for life. 19. If anyone put out another's eye, let him give his own for it. Tooth for tooth. Hand for hand. Foot for foot. Burn for burn. Wound for wound. Bruise for bruise. 20. If anyone strike the eye of his slave or maidservant out and so makes them one-eyed, let him free them for that. If he strike out a tooth, let him do the same. 21. If an ox gore a man or woman so that they are dead, it it be stoned to death and do not let the flesh be eaten. The owner shall not be liable if the ox was butting two days before that or even three and the owner did not know of it. But if he knew of it and would not shut it i.e. the animal in, and then it killed a man or woman, let it be stoned to death and let the master be killed or made to pay as the Witan consider proper. If it gore a son or daughter, let the same penalty apply. But if it gore a slave or serving-woman, let the owner give 30 shillings of silver and let the ox be stoned to death. 22. If anyone dig a well or open up a closed one and does not close it up again, let him pay for whatever cattle fall in; but let him have the dead animal for his own use. 23. If an ox wound another man's ox so it is dead, let them sell the live ox and share the proceeds, and also the flesh of the dead ox. But if the owner knew the ox was butting and would not restrain it, let him hand over the other i.e. live ox for it but let him have all the flesh of the dead ox for his own use. 24. If anyone steal another man's ox and kill or sell it, let him give two oxen in restitution. And four sheep for one stolen. If he i.e. the thief does not have anything to give in restitution, let him be sold himself to raise the money. 25. If a thief break into a man's house by night and is killed there, he i.e. the house-owner shall not be guilty of manslaughter. But if he i.e. the house-owner does this after sunrise, he is guilty of manslaughter, and shall himself perish, unless he acted in self-defence. If there is found in the possession of the living thief things he had already stolen, let him make restitution for it two-fold. 26. If anyone damage another man's vineyard or his crops or any part of his estate, let him pay compensation according to how it is assessed. 27. If a fire is lit in order to burn rubbish, let him who started the fire pay compensation for any consequent damage. 28. If anyone entrusts any possession to his friend and the friend appropriates it for himself, let him i.e. the friend clear himself and prove that he committed no fraud in the matter. If it was livestock, and he says that raiders took it, or it perished of itself, and if he has proof, he need not pay up. But if he has no proof, and the original owner does not believe him, let him make an oath to clear himself. 29. If anyone seduce an uncommitted woman and sleeps with her, let him pay for her and take her then as his wife. But if the woman's father is unwilling to let her go, then let the seducer hand over money in proportion to her dowry. 30. The women who are accustomed to harbour enchanters and wizards and witches - do not allow them to live. 31. And he that has intercourse with animals shall suffer death. 32. And he that sacrifices to idols, rather than to God alone, let him suffer death. 33. Do not harass visitors from abroad and foreigners, for you were formerly strangers on the land of the Egyptians. 34. Do not harm widows and step-children, neither do them any injury. If you do otherwise, they will call upon Me and I will listen to them, and then I will slay you with my sword and I will ensure that your wives shall be widows and your children orphans. 35. If you hand over money as a loan to your comrade who wishes to live with you, do not coerce him like an underling and do not oppress him with the interest. 36. If someone has only a single garment to cover and clothe himself with and he hands it over as a pledge, let it be returned before the sun sets. If you do not do so then he will call unto Me, and I will listen to him because I am very clement. 37. Do not reproach you Lord, nor curse the lord of the people. 38. Your tithe i.e. tenth-part of profit and your first-fruits of moving animals and growing crops, offer to God. 39. All the flesh that wild animals leave, do not eat it but give it to the dogs. 40. Do not bother to give credence to the word of a false man, and do not approve his opinions; do not repeat any of his assertions. 41. Do not join in the false judgment and evil aspirations of the many nor join in their rumours and outcry, against your own conscience, at the incitement of some ignorant person. Do not support them. 42. If the stray cattle of another man come into your possession, though it be the property of your enemy, let him know about it. 43. Judge equably, do not lay down one rule for the rich, another for the poor; do not decide one way for a friend, another for a foe. 44. Always shun falsehood. 45. Never slay a righteous and innocent man. 46. Never accept bribes, for they very often blind the minds of wise men and pervert their words. 47. Do not behave unkindly to foreigners and visitors from abroad; do not harass them with unjust acts. 48. Never swear an oath by heathen gods, nor in any circumstances call upon them. Alfred also issued a set of laws to cover the whole country that he derived from laws of various regional kings in England as follows: "1. First we insist that there is particular need that each person shall keep his oath and his pledge carefully. If anyone be compelled to give either of these wrongly, either to support treachery to his lord or to provide any unlawful aid, then it is better to forswear than to fulfil. But if he pledge himself to that which it is right for him to fulfil and fails, let him submissively hand over his weapons and his possessions to his friends to keep, and stay forty days in prison in a property of the king. Let him undergo there whatever the bishop prescribes as penance, and let his kinsmen feed him if he himself has no food. If he has no kin or has no food, let the king's officer feed him. If one has to compel him to this i.e. to surrender, and otherwise he is unwilling to co-operate - if they have to bind him he shall forfeit his weapons and his possessions. If he is slain while resisting, let him lie uncompensated. If he makes an escape before the time is up, and he is recaptured, let him stay forty days in prison as he would have previously. But if he gets away, let him be banished and excommunicated from all the churches of Christ. Further, if someone has provided surety for him, let him compensate for the breach of surety as custom require him, and atone for the breach of pledge as his confessor imposes in his case. 2. If anyone seek out as sanctuary for any offence any of the monastic houses to which the king's revenue applies, or any other exempt community that is worthy of respect he shall have a period of three days of immunity, unless he wants to negotiate before that. If someone harms him during that period, either by assault or by fettering him,, or by a penetrating wound, let the aggressor pay compensation for each of such attacks according to proper practice, both with wergeld and with a fine, and 120 shillings to that community, as compensation for breach of sanctuary, and let his own possessions be forfeit. 3. If anyone violate the king's surety, let him pay compensation for the original charge as customary law direct, and for the violation of surety with five pounds of the purer pennies. In the case of breach of an archbishop's surety or protection, let him compensate with three pounds. For violation of the surety or protection of another bishop or official [earldorman], let him make compensation with two pounds. 4. If anyone plot against the king's life, either directly or by harbouring outlaws or indirectly through the agency of his men, let him be liable with his life and with all that he owns. If he desire to prove himself loyal, let him do that by paying a king's wergeld. Similar protection we ordain for all ranks, both common and noble [earl]: whoever plots against his master's life shall be liable with his life and with all that he owns - or let him show his loyalty by paying his master's wergeld. 5. Also we appoint to every church that a bishop has consecrated this right of sanctuary: that if a party to a feud run or ride to the church, then no one may drag him forth for seven days. If however anyone does that, then let him be liable at the rate of breach of a king's protection and at the rate of breach of church sanctuary - more if he take more from the site. [And the sanctuary seeker shall be safe] if he can survive hunger, and unless he himself try to fight his way out. If the community have greater need of their church, let them keep him in another building, and let that not have the more doors than the church itself; Let the church official ensure that no one give the sanctuary-seeker food during that period. If he himself is willing to hand over his weapons to his foes, let them keep him for 30 days and inform his kin about him. Also it shall count as sanctuary if some man seek out a church about any offence that had not previously been revealed, and there confess himself in God's name - let the penalty be half remitted. He that steal on Sunday or at Yule or at Easter or on Holy Thursday or on the Rogation days - for each of those we intend that there should be a double-penalty, as during Lent. 6. If anyone steal something in a church, let him pay a plain compensation and the fine such as they consider appropriate to the plain compensation, and let them strike the hand off with which he did it i.e. the deed. If he wishes to redeem his hand, and they consent to that, let him pay in proportion to his wergeld. 7. If anyone fights in the king's hall or draw his weapon, and he is seized, let the penalty be at the king's judgement, either death or life, as he is willing to grant him. If he escapes and is captured later, let him pay in proportion to his wergeld, and atone for the offence with wergeld and fine, as he may deserve by his act. 8. If anyone abducts a nun of a nunnery without the king's or the bishop's leave, let him pay 120 shillings, half to the king, half to the bishop and the church patron who had charge of the nun. If she lives longer than he that abducted her, let her not have any of his estate. If she bears a child, let that not have any more of the estate than the mother. If anyone slay her child let him pay the king the maternal kindred's share; to the paternal kin let him pay their share. 9. If anyone slay a woman with child, while the child still be within her, let him pay full compensation for the woman and half compensation for the child according to the wergeld of the father's kin. Let the fine payable to the king always be 60 shillings, until the corresponding simple compensation rises to 30 shillings. When the simple compensation rises to that level, then let the fine be 120 shillings. Formerly there was a defined fine for a gold-thief, and a horse-thief and a bee-thief and many special fines greater than others. Now all are alike except for an illegal slayer and that is 120 shillings. 10. If a man has intercourse with the wife of a 1200 shilling wergeld man, let him pay in compensation 120 shillings to the husband. For a 600 shilling wergeld man i.e. husband, let him pay in compensation 100 shillings. For a common man [ceorl] i.e. husband, let him make compensation of 40 shillings. 11. If someone grabs the breast of a common woman, let him compensate with five shillings. If he throws her to the ground but does not have sexual intercourse with her, let him compensate with 60 shillings. If he has sexual intercourse with her let him compensate with sixty shillings. If some other man had previously lain with her, then let the compensation be half that. If someone accuse her of complicity, let her clear herself with an oath guaranteed by sixty hides of land, or forfeit half the compensation. If this happens to a nobly born woman, let the compensation increase in proportion to the wergeld. 12. If someone burns or cuts down another person's trees without permission, let him pay over 5 shillings for each substantial tree, and thereafter, no matter how many there are, five pence for each tree, and thirty shillings as a fine. 13. In the course of their joint work felling trees, if someone is killed by accident, let the tree involved be given to his kin, and let them remove it off the property within 30 days; otherwise let him possess it that owns the forest. 14. If someone is born dumb or deaf, so that he can neither deny or confess his sins, let the father make compensation for his misdeeds. 15. If someone fights or draws his weapon in the presence of an archbishop, let him make compensation with 150 shillings. If this occurs before another bishop or royal official [earldorman] let him make compensation with 100 shillings. 16. If someone steals a cow or mare and drives off a foal or calf, let him pay over one shilling as well as paying compensation for the adult animals according to their value. 17. If anyone entrust a child into the keeping of others, and he i.e. the offspring die while in that guardianship, let him that did the fostering prove his innocence of any crime if anyone accuse him of it. 18. If anyone grabs at a nun's clothing or breast with sexual intent, unless with her consent, let him pay double the rate of compensation we previously arranged for a lay-person. If she commit adultery and she is a betrothed woman, if she is a commoner, let 60 shillings be paid in compensation to the guarantor, and let that be in livestock or cattle, but let no one give any human as part of it. If she be of 600 shilling wergeld, let 100 shillings be paid in compensation to the guarantor. If she be of 1200 shilling wergeld, let compensation of 120 shillings be paid to the guarantor. 19. If anyone lends his weapon to another so that he may kill with it, they may combine, if they are willing, in the matter of paying the wergeld. If they are unwilling to co-operate, let him that proffered the weapon pay a third part of the wergeld and a third part of the fine. If he i.e. the loaner of the weapon prefer to clear himself and assert that he knew of no evil-intent in making the loan, he may do so. 20. If someone entrust cattle to another man's monk, without the approval of the patron if that monk, and it gets lost, let he that originally owned it suffer the loss. 21. If a priest slay another man, let all that he i.e. the priest brought into the monastic community be turned over to the possession of the victim's representatives, and let the bishop unfrock him; then he shall be removed from the monastery, unless the civil patron interceded for him. 22. If someone wishes in the local assembly to declare a claim for debt to the king's officer, and then wishes to cancel it, let him impute i.e. transfer it to a truer source if he can. If he cannot, let him forfeit the single value. 23. If a dog rends or bites someone, for the first misdeed let the owner hand over 6 shillings, if he is still giving it food. For as second occurrence, let him give 12 shillings, and for a third 30 shillings. If, upon any of these misdeeds, the dog escapes, nonetheless the penalty proceeds. If the dog commit more misdeeds and he i.e. the owner still keeps him, let him pay compensation at the level of a full wergeld as well as wound-compensation according to what he i.e. the dog has done. 24. If an ox wounds someone, let him i.e. the owner hand the animal over or come forward with some solution. 25. If someone forces a commoner's slave-woman to sexual intercourse, let him compensate the owner with 5 shillings and pay 60 shillings fine. If a male slave compel a female slave to sexual intercourse, let him atone with his testicles. 26. If someone force an underage woman into sexual intercourse, let the compensation be as that of an adult person. 27. If someone without kin on his father's side gets into a fight and kills someone, if he has maternal relatives, let them pay a third part of the wergeld; and a third part his guild-brethren; for a third part unpaid let him flee. If he has no maternal relatives, let the guild-brethren pay a half; for a half unpaid let him flee. 28. If someone kill a man so circumstanced and if he has no kinfolk, let them pay half the wergeld to the king, half to his guild-brethren. 29. If anyone in a group kills a 200 shilling wergeld man who is guiltless, let him that acknowledges the blow pay over wergeld and fine, and let every man who was of the party hand over 30 shillings in token of his complicity. 30. If it is a case of a 600 shilling wergeld man, let each of them pay 60 shillings as a token of their complicity, and let him that struck the fatal blow pay wergeld and fine. 31. If he that is killed is a 1200 shilling wergeld man, let each of them pay 120 shillings, and let the one who struck the fatal blow pay wergeld and fine. If a group commit this sort of killing, and later deny responsibility on oath, let them all be accused, and let them pay over the wergeld as a group, and together pay one fine such as corresponds to the wergeld. 32. If someone commits slander and it is proved against him, let him make atonement with no lighter penalty than having is tongue cut out. It i.e. the tongue must not be redeemed for any lesser value than would be reckoned in proportion to the wergeld. 33. If someone reproach another with breach of church-witnessed pledge and wishes to accuse him of not fulfilling any of those pledges that he gave him, let the accuser make his preliminary oath in four churches, and the other i.e. the accused, if he wishes to assert his good faith - let him do that in twelve churches. 34. Also it is laid down for traders that they should produce before the king's officer at the local assembly those people that they are taking inland with them, and let it be established how many of them there are. And let them take only such men as they can afterward be accountable for at the local assembly. An if they have need of more men along with them on their journey, let it always be declared, as often as is necessary, to the king's officer before the assembly. 35. If someone restrains a free man who is innocent, let him pay compensation of ten shillings. If he flogs him, compensation of twenty shillings. If he put him to torture compensation of thirty shillings. If as a humiliation he shave his head like a homolan, let him pay compensation of ten shillings. If he shaves him i.e. his head like a priest's, without binding him let him pay compensation of thirty shillings. If he shaves off his beard, let him pay compensation of twenty shillings. If he ties him up and then shaves his head like a priest's, let him pay compensation of sixty shillings. 36. It is established that if someone has a spear over his shoulder and someone else impales himself upon it, he i.e. the spear-carrier shall pay the wergeld without any fine. If he is impaled from in front, let him i.e. the spear-carrier pay the wergeld. If someone accuses him i.e. the spear-carrier of deliberately doing it, let him assert his innocence at a rate corresponding to the fine, and by that finish with the fine. And this applies if the point is above the rest of the shaft; if they are both level, point and shaft, let it count as no risk. 37. If someone wants to seek a new lord, transferring from one district to another district, let him do it with the knowledge of the chief officer to whom he was originally responsible in his shire. If he does it without his i.e. the officer's knowledge, let him who harbours him as his follower pay over 120 shillings as a fine. But let him divide it, paying the king half in the shire where the man was originally answerable, and half in that he has moved to. If he i.e. the man who moves had done anything wrong where he came from, let him who receives him as his follower pay the compensation and a fine of 120 shillings to the king. 38. If someone starts a fight in front of the king's officer at an assembly, let him pay compensation of wergeld and a fine, as it is customary; and as a priority a fine of 120 shillings to the officer [earldorman] concerned. If he disturb the assembly by drawing a weapon, let him pay 120 shillings to the officer by way of fine. If something of this sort occurs before the king's officer's deputy or a royal priest, let him pay 30 shillings by way of fine. 39. If someone starts a fight on the floor of a free man's house, let him pay compensation of six shillings to the freeman. If he draws his weapon but does not fight, let the compensation be half that. If either of these offences takes place in the house of a 600 shilling wergeld man, let the rate rise to triple the compensation due the freeman. In the case of a 1200 shilling wergeld man, a rate twice that of the compensation of the 600 shilling wergeld man. 40. For breaking into a royal residence the penalty shall be 120 shillings. Into an archbishop's, ninety shillings. Into another bishop's or a royal officer's, 60 shillings. Into a 1200 shilling werwgeld man's, thirty shillings. Into a 600 shilling wergeld man's fifteen shillings. For breaking into a freeman's property the penalty shall be five shillings. If something of this kind takes place while the levy [fyrd] is on duty elsewhere, or during Lent, let it be a double compensation. If someone sets aside holy custom publicly in Lent without an exemption, let him pay a compensation of 120 shillings. 41. The man who has charter land [bocland] which his kin left him, is not allowed, we enact, to part with it outside his kin-group, if there is written evidence or spoken witness that it was forbidden to be done by those people who originally acquired it or by those who passed it to him. Let him i.e. the one who opposes the alienation process declare any such stipulation in the presence of the king and the bishop, with his own kin attending. 42. Also we command that the man who knows his enemy is quiescent at home should not start a fight before he has asked him for justice. If he has the strength to surround his enemy and besiege him, let him contain him for 7 days within and not attack him if he i.e. the enemy is willing to abide within. After seven days if he is willing to surrender and hand over his weapons, let him i.e. the avenger keep him unharmed for thirty days and inform his kinsmen and his friends about him. But if he i.e. the enemy flee to a church, let the matter be resolved according to the privilege of the church, as we detailed above. But if he i.e. the avenger does not have the resources to besiege him i.e. the enemy, let him ride to the royal officer and ask him for help. If he i.e. the officer is unwilling to assist, let him ride and ask the king, before he mounts an attack. Further, if someone happen upon his enemy and did not know beforehand that he was quiescent at home, if he i.e. the enemy is willing to hand over his weapons, let him be held for thirty days and inform his friends about him; if he is not willing to hand over his weapons then he i.e. the avenger may attack him. If he i.e. the enemy is willing to surrender and hand over his weapons and yet someone still attacks him, let the aggressor pay over wergeld and wound compensation, according to what he has done, and pay a fine, and lose his kin-status. We also declare someone may fight in support of his lord without blame, if anyone has attacked the lord; so too the lord may fight in support of his follower. In the same way, someone may fight on behalf of his blood relative if someone attack him wrongfully, but not take the side of a kinsman against his lord - that we do not permit. Someone may fight blamelessly if he discovers another with his lawful wife behind closed doors or under the one cover, or with his legitimate daughter, or with his legitimate sister or with his mother if she was given lawfully to his father. 43. To all free people let these following days be granted as holidays but not to slaves and servile workers; twelve days at Christmas and the day that Christ overcame the Devil, and St. Gregory's commemoration day, and seven days before Easter and seven after, and one day at the celebration of St. Peter and St. Paul and the full week in harvest before St. Mary's Mass, and one day for the celebration of All Hallows. The four Wednesdays in the Ember weeks shall be granted to all slaves to sell to anyone that pleases them to anything either that any man will give them in God's name or what they in any spare time can manage." 44.-77. The compensations for wounds is as follows: head if both bones of the head be pierced 30s., head if the outer bone only be pierced 15s.; an inch long wound in the area of the hair 1s., an inch long wound in the front of the hair 2s.; striking off the other ear 30s., if the hearing be affected so that he cannot hear 60s.; putting out an eye 60s. 6 1/3 d., if the eye stay in the head but he can see nothing with it 1/3 of the compensation be remitted; striking off a nose 60s.; striking a front tooth 8s., a back tooth 4s., a canine tooth 15s.; severing cheeks 15s., breaking a chin bone 12s.; perforating a windpipe 12s.; removing a tongue the same compensatin for any eye; wounding in the shoulder so that the muscle fluid flows out 30s.; shattering the arm above the elbow 15s.; shattering both arm bones 30s.; striking off the thumb 30s., if the nail is struck off 5s.; striking off the forefinger 15s., for the nail 4s.; striking off the middle finger 12s., for the nail 2s.; striking off the ring finger 17s., for the nail 4s.; striking off the little finger 9s., for the nail 1s.; wounding in the belly 30s., if the wound go through the body 20s. for each opening; perforating the thigh or hip 30s., if it be disabled 30s.; piercing the leg below the knee 12s., if he is disabled below the knee 30s.; striking off the great toe 20s., the second toe 15s., the middle toe 9s., the fourth toe 6s., the little toe 5s.; wounding in the testicles so that he cannot bear children 80s.; cutting off the arm below the elbow with the hand cut off 80s., wounding before the hair-line and below the sleeve and below the knee twice the value; permanently damaging the loins 60s., it they are stabbed 15s., if they are pierced through 30s.; wounding in the shoulder if the victim be alive 80s.; maiming a hand outwardly, providing it can be treated effectively 20s., if half the hand be lost 40s.; breaking a rib without breaking the skin 10s., if the skin be broken and the bone be extruded 15s.; cutting away an eye hand or foot 66s.6 1/3 d.; cutting off the leg at the knee 80s.; breaking a shoulder 20s.; hacking into a shoulder so that the bone extrudes 15s.; severing the tendon of the foot and if it can be treated so that will be sound again 12s., but if he is lame on account of the wound and he cannot be cured 30s.; severing the lesser tendon 6s.; severing the muscles up by the neck and damage them so severely that he has no control over them and however lives on thus maimed 100s., unless the Witan appoint him a juster and greater sum. Judicial Procedure Cases were held at monthly meetings of the hundred court. The king or one of his reeves, conducted the trial by compurgation, which was an appeal to the supernatural. In compurgation, the one complaining, called the "plaintiff", and the one defending, called the "defendant", each told their story and put his hand on the Bible and swore "By God this oath is clean and true". A slip or a stammer would mean he lost the case. Otherwise, community members would stand up to swear on behalf of the plaintiff or the defendant as to their reputation for veracity. The value of a man's oath was commensurate with his value or wergeld. A man's brothers were usually his compurgators. The number of compurgators varied according to the nature of the case and the rank of the persons concerned. If there were too few "compurgators", usually twelve in number, or recited poorly, their party lost. If this process was inconclusive, the parties could bring witnesses to declare such knowledge as they had as neighbors. These witnesses, male and female, swore to particular points determined by the court. If compurgation failed, the defendant was told to go to church and to take the sacrament only if he was innocent. If he took the sacrament, he was tried by the process of "ordeal", which was administered by the church. In the ordeal by cold water, he was given a drink of holy water and then bound hand and foot and thrown into water. If he floated, he was guilty beccause the holy water had rejected him. If he sank, he was innocent. It was not necessary to drown to be deemed innocent. In the ordeal by hot water, he had to pick up a stone from inside a boiling cauldron. If his hand was healing in three days, he was innocent. If it was festering, he was guilty. A similar ordeal was that of hot iron, in which one had to carry in his hands a hot iron for a certain distance. In the ordeal of the consecrated morsel, one would swallow a morsel; if he choked on it, he was guilty. The results of the ordeal were taken to indicate the will of God. An archbishop's or bishop's oath was incontrovertible. If they were accused, they could clear themselves with an oath that they were guiltless. Lesser ranks could clear themselves with the oaths of at least three compurgators of their rank or, for more serious offenses, undergo the ordeal. The shire and hundred courts were held for free tenants of a lord and the judges were the tenants themselves. The feudal courts were held for unfree tenants and the lord or his steward was the judge. The earl presided over the shire court. He received one-third of the profits of justice. The judges were the owners of certain pieces of land. The shire court was held twice a year. There was little distinction between secular and spiritual jurisdiction. A bishop sat on the shire court. The shire court fulfilled all three functions of government: judicial, legislative, and executive. The courts had no efficient mode of compelling attendance or enforcing their orders, except by outlawing the offender, that is, putting him outside the protection of the law, so that anyone might kill him with impunity. In grave cases, a special expedition could be called against an offender. The individual wronged had his choice of payment in money or engaging in a blood feud. The sums of money of the system of bot, wer, and wite were enormous, and often could not be paid. Then a man could be declared outlaw or sold as a slave. If a person was outlawed, he also forfeited all his goods to the king. Cases of general importance concerned mayslaying, wounding, and cattle-stealing. A person convicted of murder, i.e. killing by stealth or robbery [taking from a person's robe, that is, his person or breaking into his home to steal] could be hung and his possessions confiscated. A man had a self-help right to arrest a thief hand-habbende Any inanimate or animate object or personal chattel which was found by a court to be the immediate cause of death was forfeited as "deodand", for instance, a tree from which a man fell to his death, a beast which killed a man, a sword of a third party not the slayer that was used to kill a man. The deodand was to go to the dead man's kin so they could wreak their vengeance on it, which in turn would cause the dead man to lie in peace. This is a lawsuit regarding rights to feed pigs in a certain woodland: "In the year 825 which had passed since the birth of Christ, and in the course of the second Indiction, and during the reign of Beornwulf, King of Mercia, a council meeting was held in the famous place called Clofesho, and there the said King Beornwulf and his bishops and his earls and all the councilors of this nation were assembled. Then there was a very noteworthy suit about wood pasture at Sinton, towards the west in Scirhylte. The reeves in charge of the pigherds wished to extend the pasture farther, and take in more of the wood than the ancient rights permitted. Then the bishop and the advisors of the community said that they would not admit liability for more than had been appointed in AEthelbald's day, namely mast for 300 swine, and that the bishop and the community should have two thirds of the wood and of the mast. The Archbishop Wulfred and all the councilors determined that the bishop and the community might declare on oath that it was so appointed in AEthelbald's time and that they were not trying to obtain more, and the bishop immediately gave security to Earl Eadwulf to furnish the oath before all the councilors, and it was produced in 30 days at the bishop's see at Worcester. At that time Hama was the reeve in charge of the pigherds at Sinton, and he rode until he reached Worcester, and watched and observed the oath, as Earl Eadwulf bade him, but did not challenge it. Here are the names and designations of those who were assembled at the council meeting …" The Times: 900-1066 There were many large landholders such as the King, earls, and bishops. Earls were noblemen by birth, and often relatives of the King. They were his army commanders and the highest civil officials, each responsible for a shire. A breach of the public peace of an earl would occasion a fine. Lower in social status were freemen: sokemen, and then, in decreasing order, villani [villeins], bordarii, and cottarii. The servi were the slaves. Probably all who were not slaves were freemen. Kings typically granted land in exchange for services of military duties, maintaining fortresses, and repairing bridges. Less common services required by landlords include equipping a guard ship and guarding the coast, guarding the lord, military watch, maintaining the deer fence at the King's residence, alms giving, and church dues. Since this land was granted in return for service, there were limitations on its heritability and often an heir had to pay a heriot to the landlord to obtain the land. A heriot was originally the weapons and armor of a man killed, which went to the King. The heriot of a thegn who had soken [or jurisdiction over their own lands] came to be about 80s.; of a kings' thegn about four lances, two coats of mail, two swords, and 125s.; of an earl about eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, eight lances, four coats of mail, four swords, and 500s. There were several thousand thegns, rich and poor, who held land directly of the King. Some thegns had soken and others did not. Free farmers who had sought protection from thegns in time of war now took them as their lords. A freeman could chose his lord, following him in war and working his land in peace. All able-bodied freemen were liable to military service in the fyrd [national militia], but not in a lord's private wars. In return, the lord would protect him against encroaching neighbors, back him in the courts of law, and feed him in times of famine. But often, lords raided each other's farmers, who fled into the hills or woods for safety. Often a lord's fighting men stayed with him at his large house, but later were given land with inhabitants on it, who became his tenants. The lords were the ruling class and the greatest of them sat in the King's council along with bishops, abbots, and officers of the King's household. The lesser lords were local magnates, who officiated at the shire and hundred courts. Staghunting, foxhunting, and hawking were reserved for lords who did not work with their hands. Every free born person had the right to hunt other game. There was a great expansion of arable land. Some land had been specifically allocated to certain individuals. Some was common land, held by communities. If a family came to pay the dues and fines on certain common land, it could become personal to that family and was then known as heirland. Most land came to be privately held from community-witnessed allotments or inheritance. Bookland was those holdings written down in books. This land was usually land that had been given to the church or monasteries because church clerics could write. So many thegns gave land to the church, usually a hide, that the church held 1/3 of the land of the realm. Folkland was that land that was left over after allotments had been made to the freemen and which was not common land. It was public land and a national asset and could be converted to heirland or bookland only by action of the king and witan. It could also be rented by services to the state via charter. A holder of folkland might express a wish, e.g. by testamentary action, for a certain disposition of it, such as an estate for life or lives for a certain individual. But a distinct act by the king and witan was necessary for this wish to take effect. Small private transactions of land could be done by "livery of seisin" in the presence of neighbors. "Seisin" is rightful possession. A man in possession of land is presumed to have "seisin", unless and until someone else can establish a better title by legal process. All estates in land could be let, lent, or leased by its holders, and was then known as "loenland". Ploughs and wagons could be drawn by four or more oxen or horses in sets of two behind each other. Oxenshoes and horseshoes prevented lameness due to cracked hooves. Horse collars especially fitted for horses, replaced oxen yoke that had been used on horses. The horse collar did not restrict breathing and enabled horses to use the same strength of oxen. Also, horses had better endurance and faster speed. A free holder's house was wood, perhaps with a stone foundation, and roofed with thatch or tiles. There was a main room or hall, with bed chambers around it. Beyond was the kitchen, perhaps outside under a lean-to. These buildings were surrounded by a bank or stiff hedge. Simple people lived in huts made from wood and mud, with one door and no windows. They slept around a wood-burning fire in the middle of the earthen floor. They wore shapeless clothes of goat hair and unprocessed wool from their sheep. They ate rough brown bread, vegetable and grain broth, ale from barley, bacon, beans, milk, cabbage, onion, apples, plums, cherries, and honey for sweetening or mead. Vegetables grown in the country included onions, leeks, celery, lettuce, radish, carrots, garlic, shallots, parsnip, dill, chervil, marigold, coriander, and poppy. In the summer, they ate boiled or raw veal and wild fowl such as ducks, geese, or pigeons, and game snared in the forest. Poultry was a luxury food, but recognized as therapeutic for invalids, especially in broth form [chicken soup]. Venison was highly prized. There were still some wild boar, which were hunted with long spears, a greyhound dog, and hunting horns. They sometimes mated with the domestic pigs which roamed the woodlands. In September, the old and infirm pigs were slaughtered and their sides of bacon smoked in the rafters for about a month. Their intestines provided skin for sausages. In the fall, cattle were slaughtered and salted for food during the winter because there was no more pasture for them. However, some cows and breed animals were kept through the winter. For their meals, people used wooden platters, sometimes earthenware plates, drinking horns, drinking cups from ash or alderwood turned on a foot-peddled pole lathe, and bottles made of leather. Their bowls, pans, and pitchers were made by the potter's wheel. Water could be boiled in pots made of iron, brass, lead, or clay. Water could be carried in leather bags because leather working preservative techniques improved so that tanning prevented stretching or decaying. At the back of each hut was a hole in the ground used as a latrine, which flies frequented. Moss was used for toilet paper. Parasitical worms in the stool were ubiquitous. Most of the simple people lived in villages of about 20 homes circling a village green or lining a single winding lane. There were only first names, and these were usually passed down family lines. To grind their grain, the villagers used hand mills with crank and gear, or a communal mill, usually built of oak, driven by power transmitted through a solid oak shaft, banded with iron as reinforcement, to internal gear wheels of elm. Almost every village had a watermill. It might be run by water shooting over or flowing under the wheel. Clothing for men and women was made from coarse wool, silk, and linen and was usually brown in color. Only the wealthy could afford to wear linen or silk. Men also wore leather clothing, such as neckpieces, breeches, ankle leathers, shoes, and boots. Boots were worn when fighting. They carried knives or axes under metal belts. They could carry items by tying leather pouches onto their belts with their drawstrings. They wore leather gloves for warmth and for heavy working with their hands. People were as tall, strong and healthy as in the late 1900s, not having yet endured the later malnourishment and overcrowding that was its worst in the 1700s and 1800s. Their teeth were very healthy. Most adults died in their 40s, after becoming arthritic from hard labor. People in their 50s were deemed venerable. Boys of twelve were considered old enough to swear an oath of allegiance to the king. Girls married in their early teens, often to men significantly older. The lands of the large landholding lords were administered by freemen. They had wheat, barley, oats, and rye fields, orchards, vineyards for wine, and beekeeping areas for honey. On this land lived not only farm laborers, cattle herders, shepherds, goatherds, and pigherds, but craftsmen such as goldsmiths, hawkkeepers, dogkeepers, horsekeepers, huntsmen, foresters, builders, weaponsmiths, embroiders, bronze smiths, blacksmiths, watermill wrights, wheelwrights, wagon wrights, iron nail makers, potters, soap makers (made from wood ashes reacting chemically with fats or oils), tailors, shoemakers, salters (made salt at the "wyches", which later became towns ending with '-wich'), bakers, cooks, and gardeners. Most men did carpentry work. Master carpenters worked with ax, hammer, and saw to make houses, doors, bridges, milk buckets, washtubs, and trunks. Blacksmiths made gates, huge door hinges, locks, latches, bolts, and horseshoes. The lord loaned these people land on which to live for their life, called a "life estate", in return for their services. The loan could continue to their widows or children who took up the craft. Mills were usually powered by water. Candles were made from beeswax, which exuded a bright and steady light and pleasant smell, or from mutton fat, which had an unpleasant odor. The wheeled plough and iron-bladed plough made the furrows. One man held the plough and another walked with the oxen, coaxing them forward with a stick and shouts. Seeds were held in an apron for seeding. Farm implements included spades, shovels, rakes, hoes, buckets, barrels, flails, and sieves. Plants were pruned to direct their growth and to increase their yield. Everyone got together for feasts at key stages of the farming, such as the harvest. Easter was the biggest feast. When the lord was in the field, his lady held their estate. There were common lands of these estates as well as of communities. Any proposed new settler had to be admitted at the court of this estate. The land of some lords included fishing villages along the coasts. From the sea were caught herrings, salmon, porpoises, sturgeon, oysters, crabs, mussels, cockles, winkles, plaice, flounder, and lobsters. Sometimes whales were driven into an inlet by many boats. River fish included eels, pike, minnows, burbot, trout, and lampreys. They were caught by brushwood weirs, net, bait, hooks, and baskets. Oysters were so numerous that they were eaten by the poor. The king's peace extended over the waterways. If mills, fisheries, weirs, or other structures were set up to block them, they were to be destroyed and a penalty paid to the king. Other lords had land with iron mining industries. Ore was dug from the ground and combined with wood charcoal in a shaft furnace to be smelted into liquid form. Wood charcoal was derived from controlled charring of the wood at high temperatures without using oxygen. This burned impurities from it and left a purer carbon, which burned better than wood. The pure iron was extracted from this liquid and formed into bars. To keep the fire hot, the furnaces were frequently placed at windswept crossings of valleys or on the tops of hills. Some lords had markets on their land, for which they charged a toll for participation. There were about fifty markets in the nation. Cattle and slaves (from the word "slav") were the usual medium of exchange. An ox was still worth about 30d. Shaking hands was symbolic of an agreement for a sale, which had to be carried out in front of witnesses at the market for any property worth over 20d. The higher the value of the property, the more witnesses were required. Witnesses were also required for the exchange of property and to vouch for cattle having being born on the property of a person claiming them. People traveled to markets on deep, sunken roads and narrow bridges kept in repair by certain men who did this work as their service to the King. The king's peace extended to a couple of high roads, i.e. highways, running the length of the country and a couple running its width. Salt was used throughout the nation to preserve meat over the winter. Inland saltworks had an elaborate and specialized organization. The chief one used saltpans and furnaces to extract salt from natural brine springs. They formed little manufacturing enclaves in the midst of agricultural land, and they were considered to be neither large private estates headed by a lord nor appurtenant to such. They belonged jointly to the king and the local earl, who shared, at a proportion of two to one, the proceeds of the tolls upon the sale of salt and methods of carriage on the ancient salt ways according to cartload, horse load, or man load. Sometimes there were investors in a portion of the works who lived quite at distance away. The sales of salt were mostly retail, but some bought to resell. Peddlers carried salt to sell from village to village. Some smiths traveled for their work, for instance, stonewrights building arches and windows in churches, and lead workers putting lead roofs on churches. An example of a grant of hides of land is: "[God has endowed King Edred with England], wherefore he enriches and honors men, both ecclesiastic and lay, who can justly deserve it. The truth of this can be acknowledged by the thegn AElfsige Hunlafing through his acquisition of the estate of 5 hides at Alwalton for himself and his heirs, free from every burden except the repair of fortifications, the building of bridges and military service; a prudent landowner church dues, burial fees and tithes. [This land] is to be held for all time and granted along with the things both great and small belonging to it." A Bishop gave land to a faithful attendant for his life and two other lives as follows: "In 904 A.D., I, Bishop Werfrith, with the permission and leave of my honorable community in Worcester, grant to Wulfsige, my reeve, for his loyal efficiency and humble obedience, one hide of land at Aston as Herred held it, that is, surrounded by a dyke, for three lives and then after three lives the estate shall be given back without any controversy to Worcester." At seaports on the coast, goods were loaded onto vessels owned by English merchants to be transported to other English seaports. London was a market town on the north side of the Thames River and the primary port and trading center for foreign merchants. Streets that probably date from this time include Milk, Bread, and Wood Streets, and Honey Lane. There were open air markets such as Billingsgate. There were wooden quays over much of the river front. Houses were made of wood, with one sunken floor, or a ground floor with a cellar beneath. Some had central stone hearths and earth latrines. There were crude pottery cooking pots, beakers and lamps, wool cloth, a little silk, simple leather shoes, pewter jewelry, looms, and quernstones (for grinding flour). Wool, skins, hides, wheat, meal, beer, lead, cheese, salt, and honey were exported. Wine (mostly for the church), fish, timber, pitch, pepper, garlic, spices, copper, gems, gold, silk, dyes, oil, brass, sulphur, glass, slaves, and elephant and walrus ivory were imported. Goods from the continent were sold at open stalls in certain streets. Furs and slaves were traded. There was a royal levy on exports by foreigners merchants. Southwark, across the Thames River from London,was reachable by a bridge. Southwark contained sleazy docks, prisons, gaming houses, and brothels. Guilds in London were first associations of neighbors for the purposes of mutual assistance. They were fraternities of persons by voluntary compact to assist each other in poverty, including their widows or orphans and the portioning of poor maids, and to protect each other from injury. Their essential features are and continue to be in the future: 1) oath of initiation, 2) entrance fee in money or in kind and a common fund, 3) annual feast and mass, 4) meetings at least three times yearly for guild business, 5) obligation to attend all funerals of members, to bear the body if need be from a distance, and to provide masses for the dead, 6) the duty of friendly help in cases of sickness, imprisonment, house burning, shipwreck, or robbery, 7) rules for decent behavior at meetings, and 8) provisions for settling disputes without recourse to the law. Both the masses and the feast were attended by the women. Frequently the guilds also had a religious ceremonial to affirm their bonds of fidelity. They readily became connected with the exercise of trades and with the training of apprentices. They promoted and took on public purposes such as the repairing of roads and bridges, the relief of pilgrims, the maintenance of schools and almshouses, and the periodic performance of pageants and miracle plays telling scriptural history, which could last for several days. The devil often was prominent in miracle plays. Many of these London guilds were known by the name of their founding member. There were also Frith Guilds (peace guilds) and a Knights' Guild. The Frith Guild's main object was to enforce the King's laws, especially the prevalent problem of theft. They were especially established by bishops and reeves. Members met monthly and contributed about 4d. to a common fund, which paid a compensation for items stolen. They each paid 1s. towards the pursuit of the thief. The members were grouped in tens. Members with horses were to track the thief. Members without horses worked in the place of the absent horse owners until their return. When caught, the thief was tried and executed. Overwhelming force was used if his kindred tried to protect him. His property was used to compensate the victim for his loss and then divided between the thief's wife, if she was innocent, the King, and the guild. Owners of slaves paid into a fund to give one half compensation to those who lost slaves by theft or escape, and recaptured slaves were to be stoned to death or hanged. The members of the peace guild also feasted and drank together. When one died, the others each sang a song or paid for the singing of fifty psalms for his soul and gave a loaf. The Knights' Guild was composed of thirteen military persons to whom King Edgar granted certain waste land in the east of London, toward Aldgate, and also Portsoken, which ran outside the eastern wall of the city to the Thames, for prescribed services performed, probably defense of the vulnerable east side of the city. This concession was confirmed by King Edward the Confessor in a charter at the suit of certain citizens of London, the successors of these knights. Edward granted them sake and soke, the right to hold a court for the offender and to receive the profits of jurisdiction, over their men. Edward the Confessor made these rules for London: 1. Be it known that within the space of three miles from all parts outside of the city a man ought not to hold or hinder another, and also should not do business with him if he wish to come to the city under its peace. But when he arrives in the city, then let the market be the same to the rich man as to the poor. 2. Be it also known that a man who is from the court of the king or the barons ought not to lodge in the house of any citizen of London for three nights, either by privilege or by custom, except by consent of the host. For if he force the host to lodge him in his house and there be killed by the host, let the host choose six from his relatives and let him as the seventh swear that he killed him for the said cause. And thus he will remain quit of the murder of the - - deceased towards the king and relatives and lords of the deceased. 3. And after he has entered the city, let a foreign merchant be lodged wherever it please him. But if he bring dyed cloth, let him see to it that he does not sell his merchandise at retail, but that he sell not less than a dozen pieces at a time. And if he bring pepper, or cumin, or ginger, or alum, or brasil wood, or resin, or incense, let him sell not less than fifteen pounds at a time. But if he bring belts, let him sell not less than a thousand at a - - time. And if he bring cloths of silk, or wool or linen, let him see that he cut them not, but sell them whole. But if he bring wax, let him sell not less than one quartanum. Also a foreign merchant may not buy dyed cloth, nor make the dye in the city, nor do any work which belongs by right to the citizens. 4. Also no foreign merchant with his partner may set up any market within the city for reselling goods in the city, nor may he approach a citizen for making a bargain, nor may he stop longer in the City. Every week in London there was a folkmote at St. Paul's churchyard, where majority decision was a tradition. By 1032, it had lost much of its power to the husting [household assembly in Danish] court. The folkmote then had responsibility for order and was the sole authority for proclaiming outlaws. It met three times a year at St. Paul's churchyard and there acclaimed its sheriff and its justiciar, or if the king had chosen his officer, heard who was chosen and listened to his charge. It also yearly arranged the watch and dealt with risks of fire. It was divided into wards, each governed by an alderman who presided over the wardmote, and represented his ward at the folkmote. Each guild became a ward. The chief alderman was the portreeve. London paid one-eighth of all the taxes of England. Later in the towns, merchant guilds grew out of charity associations whose members were bound by oath to each other and got together for a guild feast every month. Some traders of these merchant guilds became so prosperous that they became landholders. Many market places were dominated by a merchant guild, which had a monopoly of the local trade. In the great mercantile towns all the land and houses would be held by merchants and their dependents, all freeholders were connected with a trade, and everyone who had a claim on public office or magistry would be a member of the guild. The merchant guild could admit into their guild country villeins, who became freemen if unclaimed by their lords for a year and a day. Every merchant who had made three long voyages on his own behalf and at his own cost ranked as a thegn. There were also some craft guilds composed of handicraftsmen or artisans. Escaped bonded agricultural workers, poor people, and traders without land migrated to towns to live, but were not citizens. Towns were largely self-sufficient, but salt and iron came from a distance. The King's established in every shire at least one town with a market place where purchases would be witnessed, and a mint where reliable money was coined by a moneyer, who put his name on his coins. There were eight moneyers in London. Coins were issued to be of value for only a couple of years. Then one had to exchange them for newly issued ones at a rate of about 10 old for 8 or 9 new. The difference constituted a tax. Roughly 10% of the people lived in towns. Some took surnames such as Tanner, Weaver, or Carpenter. Some had affectionate or derisive nicknames such as clear-hand, fresh friend, soft bread, foul beard, money taker, or penny purse. Craftsmen in the 1000s included goldsmiths, embroiderers, illuminators of manuscripts, and armorers. Edward the Confessor, named such for his piety, was a king of 24 years who was widely respected for his intelligence, resourcefulness, good judgment, and wisdom. His educated Queen Edith, whom he relied on for advice and cheerful courage, was a stabilizing influence on him. They were served by a number of thegns, who had duties in the household, which was composed of the hall, the courtyard, and the bedchamber. They were important men - thegns by rank. They were landholders, often in several areas, and held leading positions in the shires. They were also priests and clerics, who maintained the religious services and performed tasks for which literacy was necessary. Edward was the first king to have a "Chancellor", who was the first great officer of state. He kept a royal seal and was the chief royal chaplain. He did all the secretarial work of the household and court, drew up and sealed the royal writs, conducted the king's correspondence, and kept all the royal accounts. The word "chancellor" signified a screen behind which the secretarial work of the household was done. He had the special duty of securing and administering the royal revenue from vacant benefices. The second great office was that of Treasurer, who headed the Exchequer. The most important royal officers were the chamberlains, who took care of the royal bedchamber and adjoining wardrobe used for dressing and storage of valuables, and the priests. These royal officers had at first been responsible only for domestic duties, but gradually came to assume public administrative tasks. Edward wanted to avoid the pressures and dangers of living in the rich and powerful City of London. So he rebuilt a monastic church, an abbey, and a palace at Westminster about two miles upstream. He started the growth of Westminster as a center of royal and political power; kings' councils met there. Royal coronations took place at the abbey. Since Edward traveled a lot, he established a storehouse-treasury at Winchester to supplement his traveling wardrobe. At this time, Spanish stallions were imported to improve English horses. London came to have the largest and best trained army in England. The court invited many of the greatest magnates and prelates [highest ecclesiastical officials, such as bishops] of the land to the great ecclesiastical festivals, when the king held more solemn courts and feasted with his vassals for several days. These included all the great earls, the majority of bishops, some abbots, and a number of thegns and clerics. Edward had a witan of wise men to advise him, but sometimes the King would speak in the hall after dinner and listen to what comments were made from the mead-benches. As the court moved about the country, many men came to pay their respects and attend to local business. Edward started the practice of King's touching people to cure them of scrofula, a disease which affected the glands, especially in the head and neck. It was done in the context of a religious ceremony. The main governmental activities were: war, collection of revenue, religious education, and administration of justice. For war, the shires had to provide a certain number of men and the ports quotas of ships with crews. The king was the patron of the English church. He gave the church peace and protection. He presided over church councils and appointed bishops. As for the administration of justice, the public courts were almost all under members of Edward's court, bishops, earls, and reeves. Edward's mind was often troubled and disturbed by the threat that law and justice would be overthrown, by the pervasiveness of disputes and discord, by the raging of wicked presumption, by money interfering with right and justice, and by avarice kindling all of these. He saw it as his duty to courageously oppose the wicked by taking good men as models, by enriching the churches of God, by relieving those oppressed by wicked judges, and by judging equitably between the powerful and the humble. He was so greatly revered that a comet was thought to accompany his death. The king established the office of the Chancery to draft documents and keep records. It created the writ, which was a small piece of parchment [sheep skin] addressed to a royal official or dependent commanding him to perform some task for the King. By the 1000s A.D., the writ contained a seal: a lump of wax with the impress of the Great Seal of England which hung from the bottom of the document. Writing was done with a sharpened goose-wing quill. Ink was obtained from mixing fluid from the galls made by wasps for their eggs on oak trees, rainwater or vinegar, gum arabic, and iron salts for color. A King's grant of land entailed two documents: a charter giving boundaries and conditions and a writ, usually addressed to the shire court, listing the judicial and financial privileges conveyed with the land. These were usually sac [jurisdiction of a lord to hold court and to impose fines and amercements] and soke [jurisdiction of a private court of a noble or institution to execute the laws and administer justice over inhabitants and tenants of the estate], toll [right to have a market and to collect a payment on the sale of cattle and other property on one's own estate] and team The town of Coventry consisted of a large monastery estate, headed by an abbot, and a large private estate headed by a lord. The monastery was granted by Edward the Confessor full freedom and these jurisdictions: sac and soke, toll and team, hamsocne [the authority to fine a person for breaking into and making entry by force into the dwelling of another], forestall [the authority to fine a person for robbing others on the road], bloodwite [the authority to impose a forfeiture for assault involving bloodshed], fightwite [the authority to fine for fighting], weordwite [the authority to fine for manslaughter, but not for willful murder], and mundbryce [the authority to fine for any breach of the peace, such as trespass on lands]. Every man was expected to have a lord to whom he gave fealty. He swore by a fealty oath such as: "By the Lord, before whom this relic is holy, I will be to faithful and true, and love all that he loves, and shun all that he shuns, according to God's law, and according to the world's principle, and never, by will nor by force, by word nor by work, do ought of what is loathful to him; on condition that he keep me as I am willing to deserve, and all that fulfill that our agreement was, when I to him submitted and chose his will." If a man was homeless or lordless, his brothers were expected to find him such, e.g. in the folkmote. Otherwise, he was to be treated as a fugitive and could be slain, and anyone who had harbored him would pay a penalty. Brothers were also expected to protect their minor kinsmen. When the oath of fealty was sworn, the man usually did homage to this lord symbolized by holding his hands together between those of his lord. Marriages were determined by men asking women to marry them. If a woman said yes, he paid a sum to her kin for her "mund" [jurisdiction or protection over her] and gave his oath to them to maintain and support the woman and any children born. As security for this oath, he gave a valuable object or "wed". The couple were then betrothed. Marriage ceremonies were performed by priests in churches. The groom had to bring friends to his wedding as sureties to guarantee his oath to maintain and support his wife and children. Those who swore to take care of the children were called their "godfathers". The marriage was written into church records. After witnessing the wedding, friends ate the great loaf, or first bread made by the bride. This was the forerunner of the wedding cake. They drank special ale, the "bride ale" (from hence the work "bridal"), to the health of the couple. Women could own land, houses, and furniture and other property. They could even make wills that disinherited their sons. This marriage agreement with an Archbishop's sister provides her with land, money, and horsemen: "Here in this document is stated the agreement which Wulfric and the archbishop made when he obtained the archbishop's sister as his wife, namely he promised her the estates at Orleton and Ribbesford for her lifetime, and promised her that he would obtain the estate at Knightwick for her for three lives from the community at Winchcombe, and gave her the estate at Alton to grant and bestow upon whomsoever she pleased during her lifetime or at her death, as she preferred, and promised her 50 mancuses of gold and 30 men and 30 horses. The witnesses that this agreement was made as stated were Archbishop Wulfstan and Earl Leofwine and Bishop AEthelstan and Abbot AElfweard and the monk Brihtheah and many good men in addition to them, both ecclesiastics and laymen. There are two copies of this agreement, one in the possession of the archbishop at Worcester and the other in the possession of Bishop AEthelstan at Hereford." This marriage agreement provided the wife with money, land, farm animals and farm laborers; it also names sureties, the survivor of whom would receive all this property: "Here is declared in this document the agreement which Godwine made with Brihtric when he wooed his daughter. In the first place he gave her a pound's weight of gold, to induce her to accept his suit, and he granted her the estate at Street with all that belongs to it, and 150 acres at Burmarsh and in addition 30 oxen and 20 cows and 10 horses and 10 slaves. This agreement was made at Kingston before King Cnut, with the cognizance of Archbishop Lyfing and the community at Christchurch, and Abbot AElfmaer and the community at St. Augustine's, and the sheriff AEthelwine and Sired the old and Godwine, Wulfheah's son, and AElfsige cild and Eadmaer of Burham and Godwine, Wulfstan's son, and Carl, the King's cniht. And when the maiden was brought from Brightling AElfgar, Sired's son, and Frerth, the priest of Forlstone, and the priests Leofwine and Wulfsige from Dover, and Edred, Eadhelm's son, and Leofwine, Waerhelm's son, and Cenwold rust and Leofwine, son of Godwine of Horton, and Leofwine the Red and Godwine, Eadgifu's son, and Leofsunu his brother acted as security for all this. And whichever of them lives the longer shall succeed to all the property both in land and everything else which I have given them. Every trustworthy man in Kent and Sussex, whether thegn or commoner, is cognizant of these terms. There are three of these documents; one is at Christchurch, another at St. Augustine's, and Brihtric himself has the third." Nuns and monks lived in segregated nunneries and monasteries on church land and grew their own food. The local bishop usually was also an abbot of a monastery. The priests and nuns wore long robes with loose belts and did not carry weapons. Their life was ordered by the ringing of the bell to start certain activities, such as prayer; meals; meetings; work in the fields, gardens, or workshops; and copying and illuminating books. They chanted to pay homage and to communicate with God or his saints. They taught justice, piety, chastity, peace, and charity; and cared for the sick. Caring for the sick entailed mostly praying to God as it was thought that only God could cure. They bathed a few times a year. They got their drinking water from upstream of where they had located their latrines over running water. The large monasteries had libraries, dormitories, guesthouses, kitchens, butteries to store wine, bakehouses, breweries, dairies, granaries, barns, fishponds, orchards, vineyards, gardens, workshops, laundries, lavatories with long stone or marble washing troughs, and towels. Slavery was diminished by the church by excommunication for the sale of a child over seven. The clergy taught that manumission of slaves was good for the soul of the dead, so it became frequent in wills. The clergy were to abstain from red meat and wine and were to be celibate. But there were periods of laxity. Punishment was by the cane or scourge. The Archbishop of Canterbury began anointing new kings at the time of coronation to emphasize that the king was ruler by the grace of God. As God's minister, the king could only do right. From 973, the new king swore to protect the Christian church, to prevent inequities to all subjects, and to render good justice, which became a standard oath. It was believed that there was a celestial hierarchy, with heavenly hosts in specific places. The heavenly bodies revolved in circles around the earthly world on crystal spheres of their own, which were serene, harmonious, and eternal. This contrasted with the change, death, and decay that occurred in the earthly world. Also in this world, Aristotle's four elements of earth, air, fire, and water sought their natural places, e.g. bubbles of air rising through water. The planets were called wanderers because their motion did not fit the circular scheme. God intervened in daily life, especially if worshipped. Jesus Christ, his mother the Virgin Mary and saints were also worshipped. Saints such as Bede and Hilda performed miracles, especially ones of curing. Their spirits could be contacted through their relics, which rested at the altars of churches. Sin resulted in misfortune. When someone was said to have the devil in him, people took it quite literally. Omens fortold events. A real Jack Frost nipped noses and fingers and made the ground too hard to work. Little people, elves, trolls, and fairies inhabited the fears and imaginings of people. The forest was the mysterious home of spirits. People prayed to God to help them in their troubles and from the work of the devil. Prayer was often a charm to conjure up friendly spirits rather than an act of supplication. Sorcerers controlled the forces of nature with the aid of spirits. Since natural causes of events were unknown, people attributed events to wills like their own. Illness and disease were thought to be caused by demons and witches. To cure illness, people hung charms around their neck and went to good witches for treatments of magic and herbs. For instance, the remedy for "mental vacancy and folly" was a drink of "fennel, agrimony, cockle, and marche".Some herbs had hallucinogenic effects, which were probably useful for pain. Blood- letting by leeches and cautery were used for most maladies, which were thought to be caused by imbalance of the four bodily humors: sanguine, phlegmatic, choleric, and melancholic. These four humors reflected the four basic elements air, water, fire, and earth. Blood was hot and moist like air; phlegm was cold and moist like water; choler or yellow bile was hot and dry like fire; and melancholy or black bile was cold and dry like earth. Bede had explained that when blood predominates, it makes people joyful, glad, sociable, laughing, and talking a great deal. Phlegm renders them slow, sleepy, and forgetful. Red cholic makes them thin, though eating much, swift, bold, wrathful, and agile. Black cholic makes them serious of settled disposition, even sad. To relieve brain pressure and/or maybe to exorcise evil spirits, holes were made in skulls by a drill with a metal tip that was caused to turn back and forth by a strap wrapped around a wooden handle. A king's daughter Edith inspired a cult of holy wells, whose waters were thought to alleviate eye conditions. Warmth and rest were also used for illness. Agrimony boiled in milk was thought to relieve impotence in men. It was known that the liver casted out impurities in the blood. The stages of fetal growth were known. The soul was not thought to enter a fetus until after the third month, so presumably abortions within three months were allowable. The days of the week were Sun day, Moon day, Tiw's day (Viking god of war), Woden's day (Viking god of victory, master magician, calmer of storms, and raiser of the dead), Thor's day (Viking god of thunder), Frig's day (Viking goddess of fertility and growing things), and Saturn's day (Roman god). Special days of the year were celebrated: Christmas, the birthday of Jesus Christ; the twelve days of Yuletide (a Viking tradition) when candles were lit and houses decorated with evergreen and there were festivities around the burning of the biggest log available; Plough Monday for resumption of work after Yuletide; February 14th with a feast celebrating Saint Valentinus, a Roman bishop martyr who had married young lovers in secret when marriage was forbidden to encourage men to fight in war; New Year's Day on March 25th when seed was sown and people banged on drums and blew horns to banish spirits who destroy crops with disease; Easter, the day of the resurrection of Jesus Christ; Whitsunday, celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit on the apostles of Jesus and named for the white worn by baptismal candidates; May Day when flowers and greenery was gathered from the woods to decorate houses and churches, Morris dancers leapt through their villages with bells, hobby horses, and waving scarves, and people danced around a May pole holding colorful ribbons tied at the top so they became entwined around the pole; Lammas on August 1st, when the first bread baked from the wheat harvest was consecrated; Harvest Home when the last harvest load was brought home while an effigy of a goddess was carried with reapers singing and piping behind, and October 31st, the eve of the Christian designated All Hallow Day, which then became known as All Hallow Even, or Halloween. People dressed as demons, hobgoblins, and witches to keep spirits away from possessing them. Trick or treating began with Christian beggars asking for "soul cake" biscuits in return for praying for dead relatives. Ticktacktoe and backgammon were played. The languages of invaders had produced a hybrid language that was roughly understood throughout the country. The existence of Europe, Africa, Asia, and India were known. Jerusalem was thought to be at the center of the world. There was an annual tax of a penny on every hearth, Peter's pence, to be collected and sent to the pope in Rome yearly. Ecclesiastical benefices were to pay church-scot, a payment in lieu of first fruits of the land, to the pope. The Law There were several kings in this period. The king and witan deliberated on the making of new laws, both secular and spiritual, at the regularly held witanagemot. There was a standard legal requirement of holding every man accountable, though expressed in different ways, such as the following three: Every freeman who does not hold land must find a lord to answer for him. Every lord shall be personally responsible as surety for the men of his household. [This included female lords.] (King Athelstan) "And every man shall see that he has a surety, and this surety shall bring and keep him to [the performance of] every lawful duty. 1. -And if anyone does wrong and escapes, his surety shall incur what the other should have incurred. 2. -If the case be that of a thief and his surety can lay hold of him within twelve months, he shall deliver him up to justice, and what he has paid shall be returned to him." (King Edgar) Every freeman who holds land, except lords with considerable landed property, must be in a local tithing, usually ten to twelve men, in which they serve as personal sureties for each other's peaceful behavior. If one of the ten landholders in a tithing is accused of an offense, the others have to produce him in court or pay a fine plus pay the injured party for the offense, unless they could prove that they had no complicity in it. If the man is found guilty but can not pay, his tithing must pay his fine. The chief officer is the "tithing man" or "capital pledge". There were probably ten tithings in a hundred. (King Edward the Confessor). Canute reigned from 1016 to 1035. The following are substantially all the laws of Canute with an * before ones of special interest. Proclamations of Canute are: All my reeves, under pain of forfeiting my friendship and all that they possess and their own lives, shall govern my people justly everywhere, and to pronounce just judgments with the cognizance of the bishops of the dioceses, and to inflict such mitigated penalties as the bishop may approve and the man himself may be able to bear. I enjoin upon all the sheriffs and reeves throughout my kingdom that, as they desire to retain my friendship and their own sercurity, they employ no unjust force towards any man, either rich or poor, but that all, both nobles and commoners, rich and poor, shall have their right of just possession, which shall not be infringed upon in any way, either for the sake of obtaining the favour of the king or of gratifying any powerful person or of collecting money for me; and I have no need that monoey should be collected for me by any unust exactions. Ecclesiastical laws of Canute are: Above all else, love and honour one God, and uphold one Christian faith, and love King Canute with due fidlity. *Maintain the security and sanctity of the churches of God, and frequently attend them for the salvation of our souls and our own benefit. He who violates the protection given by the church of God within its walls, or the protection granted by a Christian king in person shall lose both land and life, unless the king is willing to pardon him. Homicide within the church's walls shall not be atoned for by any payment of compensation, and everyone shall pursue the miscreant, unless it happen that he escapes from there and reaches so inviolable a sanctuary that the king, because of that, grants him his life, upon condition that he makes full amends both towards God and towards men. The first conditon is that he shall give his own wergeld to Christ and to the king and by that means obtain the legal right to offer compensation. And if the king allows compensation, amends for the violation of the protection of the church shall be made by the payment to the church of the full fine for breach of the king's mund, and the purification of the church shall be carried out as is fiting, and compensation both to the kin and to the lord of the slain man shall be fully psid, and supplication shall earnestly be made to God. If the protection of the church is broken by offenses such as fighting or robbery, without the taking of life, amends shall diligently be made in accordance with the nature of the offense. The penalty for violation of the protection of a principal church is 5 pounds, for a church of medium rank is 120s., for a church with a graveyard 60s., and for a country chapel where there is no graveyard, 30s. Maintain the security and sanctity of holy things and priests according to their rank, for they drive away devils, baptize anyone, hallow the Eucharist, and intercede to Christ for the needs of the people. If an accusation of evil practices is made against a priest and he knows himself to be guiltless, he shall say Mass, if he dares, and thus clear himelf by the Holy Communion in the cases of a simple accusation, and by the Holy Communion with two supporters of the same ecclesiastical rank in the case of a triple accusation. If he has no supporters, he shall go to the ordeal of consecrated bread. No monk who belongs to a monastery may demand or pay compensation incurred by vendetta because he leaves the law of his kindred behind when he accepts monastic rule. If a priest is concerned in false witness or perjury or is the accessory and accomplice of thieves, he shall be cast out from the fellowship of those in holy orders and forfeit every privilege, unless he make amends both towards God and towards men, as the bishop shall prescribe, and find surtey for future behavior. Servants of God shall call upon Christ to intercede for all Christian people and practice celibacy. Those who turn away from marriage and observe celibacy shall enjoy the privileges of a thegn. *No Christian man shall marry among his own kin within six degress of relationship or with the widow of a man as nearly related to him as that, or with a near relative of his first wife's. No man shall marry his god-mother, a nun, or a divorced woman. He shall not commit adultery. He shall have no more wives that one, with whom he shall remain as long as she lives. Ecclesiastical dues shall be paid yearly, namely, plough alms 15 days after Easter, the tithe [tenth] of young animals at Pentecost, and the tithe of the fruits of the earth at All Saints. Otherwise the king's reeve, the bishop's reeve, and the lord's reeve shall take what is due and assign him the next tenth, and the eight remaining parts shall go half to the lord and half to the bishop. Peter's Pence shall be paid by St. Peter's Day or pay the bishop the penny and 30d. in addition and 120s. to the king. Church dues shall be paid at Martinmas, or pay the biship eleven fold and 120s. to the king. Any thegn with a church with attached graveyard on his land shall give a third part of his own tithes to his church. If he has a church without a graveyard, he shall give his priest whatever he desires from the nine remaining parts. Light dues shall be paid a halfpenny worth of wax from every hide three times a year. Payment for the souls of the dead should be rendered before the grave is closed. *All festivals and fasts, such as Lent, shall be observed. The festival of every Sunday shall be observed from noon on Saturday till dawn on Monday. No trading, public gatherings, hunting, or secular occupations shall be done on Sunday. We forbid ordeals and oaths during festivals and fasts. To avoid the torment of hell, let us turn away from sin and confess our misdeeds to out confessors and cease from evil and make amends. Each of us shall treat others as we desire to be treated. Every Christian man shall prepare himself for the sacrament at least three times a year. Every friend shall abide by his oath and pledge. Every injustice shall be cast out from this land. Let us be faithful and true to our lord and promote his honour and carry out his will. And likewise, it is the duty of every lord to treat his men justly. Men of every estate shall readily submit to the duty which befits them. Every Christian man shall learn the Creed and the Pater Noster, the sacred prayer taught by Christ to his disciples which contains all the petitions necessary for this life and the life to come. He who does not learn it may not sponsor another man at baptism or at confirmation. *Guard against grievous sins and devilish deeds and make amends according to one's confessor's advice. Fear God, be in terror of sin, and dread the Day of Judgment. The bishops shall give example of our duty towards God. Secular laws of Canute are: All men, both rich and poor, shall be entitled to the benefit of the law, and just decisions shall be pronounced on their behalf. Those in authority to give judgment shall consider very earnestly "And forgive us our trespasses as we forgive them that trespass against us." Christian people shall not be condemned to death for trivial offenses. We forbid the all too prevalent practice of selling Christian people out of the country, especially into heathen lands. Care shall be taken that the souls which Christ bought with his own life be not destroyed. *Any wizards or sorcerers, those who secretly compass death, prostitutes, thieves, and robbers shall be destroyed unless they cease and make amends. We forbid heathen practices, namely the worship of idols, heathen gods, and the sun or moon, fire or water, springs or stones or any kind of forest trees, or indulgence in witchcraft or the compassing of death in any way, either by sacrifice or by divinations or by the practice of any such delusions. *Murderers and perjurers, injurers of the clergy, and adulterers shall submit and make amends or depart with their sins from their native land. *Hypocrites and liars, robbers and plunderers shall incur the wrath of *There shall be one currency free from all adulteration throughout the land and no one shall refuse it. He who coins false money shall forfeit the hand with which he made it, and he shall not redeem it in any way, either with gold or silver. If the reeve is accused of having granted his permission to the man who coined the false money, he shall clear himself by the triple oath of exculpation and, if it fails, he shall have the same sentence as the man who coined the false money. *Measures and weights shall be diligently corrected and an end put to all unjust practices. The repair of fortifications and bridges, and the preparation of ships and the equipment of military forces shall be diligently undertaken for the common need, whenever the occasion arises. *In Wessex and Mercia, the king is entitled to payments for violation of his mund, attacks on people's houses, assault, and neglecting military service. In the Danelaw, he is entitled to payments for fighting, breach of the peace and attacks on people's houses, and neglect of military service. *If anyone does the deed of an outlaw, the king alone shall have power to grant him security. He shall forfeit all his land to the king without regard to whose vassal he is. Whoever feeds or harbours the fugitive shall pay 5 pounds to the king, unless he clears himself by a declaration that he did not know that he was a fugitive. *He who promotes injustice or pronounces unjust judgments, as a result of malice or bribery, shall forfeit 120s. to the king, in districts under English law, unless he declares on oath that he did not know how to give a more just verdict, and he shall lose forever his rank as a thegn, unless he redeem it from the king, provided the latter is willing to allow him to do so. In the Danelaw he shall forfeit his lahslit. *He who refuses to observe just laws and judgments shall forfeit, in districts under English law, a fine to the party entitled thereto - either 120s. to the king, 60s. to the earl, or 30s. to the hundred, or to all of them if they were all concerned. *If a man seeks to accuse another man falsely in such a way as to injure him in property or in reputation, and if the latter can refute the accusation brought against him, the first shall forfeit his tongue, unless he redeems himself with his wergeld. No one shall appeal to the king, unless he fails to obtain justice within his hundred. Everyone shall attend the hundred court, under pain of fine, whenever he is required by law to attend it. The borough court shall be held at least three times and the shire court at least twice, under pain of fine. The bishop of the diocese and the earldorman shall attend and they shall direct the administration of both ecclesiastical and secular law. *No one shall make distraint [seizure of personal property out of the possession of an alleged wrongdoer into the custody of the party injured, to procure a satisfaction for a wrong committed] of property either within the shire or outside it, until he has appealed for justice three times in the hundred court. If on the third occasion he does not obtain justice, he shall go on the fourth occasion to the shire court, and the shire court shall appoint a day when he shall issue his summons for the fourth time. And if this summons fails, he shall get leave from the one court or the other, to take his own measures for the recovery of his property. *Every freeman over age 12 must be in a tithing if he desires to have the right of exculpation and of being atoned for by the payment of his wergeld, if he is slain, and to be entitled to the rights of a freeman, whether he has an establishment of his own or is in the service of another. Everyone shall be brought within a hundred and under surety, and his surety shall hold and bring him to the performance of every legal duty. *Everyone over age 12 shall take an oath that he will not be a thief or a thief's accomplice. Every trustworthy man, who has never earned a bad reputation and who has never failed either in oath or in ordeal, shall be entitled to clear himself within the hundred by the simple oath of exculpation. For an untrustworthy man compurgators for the simple oath shall be selected within three hundreds, and for the triple oath, throughout the district under the jurisdiction of the borough court; otherwise he shall go to the ordeal. When a simple oath of exculpation is involved, the case shall be begun with a simple oath of accusation; but where a triple oath of exculpation is involved, it shall be begun with a triple oath of accusation. A thegn may have a trustworthy man give his oath of accusation for him. No man may vouch to warranty unless he has three trustworthy witnesses to declare whence he acquired the stock which is attached in his possession. The witnesses shall declare that, in bearing testimony on his behalf to the effect that he acquired it legally, they are speaking the truth, in accordance with what they saw with their eyes and heard with their ears. *No one shall buy anything over 4d. in value, either livestock or other property, unless he has four men as trustworthy witnesses, whether the purchase be made within a town or in the open country. If, however, any property is attached, and he who is in possession of it has no such witnesses, no vouching to warranty shall be allowed, but the property shall be given up to its rightful owner and also the supplementary payment, and the fine to the party who is entitled thereto. And if he has witnesses in accordance with what we have declared above, vouching to warranty shall take place three times. On the fourth occasion he shall prove his claim to it or give it back to its rightful owner. No one shall claim ownership where fraud is involved. *If anyone who is of bad reputation and unworthy of public confidence fails to attend the court meetings three times, men shall be chosen from the fourth meeting who shall ride to him, and he may then still find a surety, if he can. If he cannot, they shall seize him either alive or dead, and they shall take all that he has. And they shall pay to the accuser the value of his goods, and the lord shall take half of what remains and the hundred half. And if anyone, either kinsman or stranger, refuses to ride against him, he shall pay the king 120s. *The proved thief and he who has been discovered in treason against his lord, whatever sanctuary he seeks, shall never be able to save his life. He who in court tries to protect himself or one of his men by bringing a countercharge shall have wasted his words, and shall meet the charge brought by his opponent in such a way as the hundred court shall determine. No one shall entertain any man for more than three days, unless he is committed to this charge by the man whom he has been serving. And no one shall dismiss one of his men from his service until he is quit of every accusation which has been brought against him. *If anyone comes upon a thief and of his own accord lets him escape without raising the hue and cry, he shall make compensation by the payment of the thief's wergeld, or clear himself with the full oath, asserting that he did not know him to be guilty of any crime. And if anyone hears the hue and cry and neglects it, he shall pay the full fine for insubordination [120s] to the king, or clear himself by the full oath. *Regarding thoroughly untrustworthy men, if anyone has forfeited the confidence of the hundred, and he has charges brought against him to such an extent that he is accused by three men at once, no other course shall be open to him but to go to the triple ordeal. If, however, his lord asserts that he has failed neither in oath nor in ordeal since the assembly was held at Winchester, the lord shall choose two trustworthy men within the hundred - unless he has a reeve who is qualified to discharge this duty - and they shall swear that he has never failed in oath or ordeal or been convicted of stealing. If the oath is forthcoming, the man who is accused there shall choose whichever he will - either the simple ordeal or an oath equivalent to a pound in value, supported by compurgators found within the three hundreds, in the case of an object over 30d. in value. If they dare not give the oath, the accused shall go to the triple ordeal, which shall be opened by five compurgators selected by the accuser and he himself shall make a sixth. If the accused is proved guilty, on the first occasion he shall pay double value to the accuser and his wergeld to the lord who is entitled to receive his fine, and he shall appoint trustworthy sureties, that hence forth he will desist from all wrong-doing. And on the second occasion, if he is proved guilty, there shall be no compensation but to have his hands or his feet cut off or both, according to the nature of the offense. And if has wrought still greater crime, he shall have his eyes put out and his nose and ears and upper lip cut off or his scalp removed, whichever of these penalties is determined by those with whom rests the decision of the case; and thus punishment shall be inflicted, while, at the same time, the soul is preserved from injury. If, however, he escapes and avoids the ordeal, his surety shall pay the value of his goods to the plaintiff and the wergeld of the accused to the king or to the man who is entitled to receive his wergeld. And if the lord is accused of advising the man who had done wrong to escape, he shall choose five trustworthy men, and shall himself make a sixth, and shall clear himself of the accusation. If he succeeds in clearing himself, he shall be entitled to the wergeld. And if he fails, the king shall take the wergeld, and the thief shall be treated as an outlaw by the whole nation. Every lord shall be personally responsible as surety for the men of his own household. And if any accusation is brought against one of them, he shall answer if within the hundred in which he is accused. And if he is accused and escapes, the lord shall pay the man's wergeld to the king. And if the lord is accused of advising him to escape, he shall clear himself with the help of five thegns, himself making a sixth. And if he fails to clear himself, he shall pay his own wergeld to the king, and the man shall be an outlaw towards the king. If a slave is found guilty at the ordeal, he shall be branded on the first occasion. And on the second occasion, he shall not be able to make any amends except by his head. *Concerning untrustworthy men, if there is anyone who is regarded with suspicion by the general public, the king's reeve shall go and place him under surety so that he a may be brought to do justice to those who have made charges against him. If he has no surety, he shall be slain and buried in unconsecrated ground. And if anyone interposes in his defense, they shall both incur the same punishment. And he who ignores this and will not further what we have all determined upon shall pay 120s. to the king. The various boroughs shall have one common law with regard to exculpation. If a friendless man or one come from afar is so utterly destitute of friends as not to be able to produce a surety, on the first occasion that he is accused he shall go to prison, and wait there until he goes to God's ordeal where he shall experience whatever he can. Verily, he who pronounces a more severe judgment upon whom is friendless or come from afar than upon one of his own acquaintances injures himself. *Concerning perjury, if anyone swears a false oath on the relics and is convicted, he shall lose his hand or half his wergeld which shall be divided between the lord and the bishop. And henceforth he shall not be entitled to swear an oath, unless he makes amends to the best of his ability before God, and finds surety that ever afterwards he will desist from such perjury. *Concerning false witness, if anyone has given testimony which is manifestly false, and is convicted thereof, his testimony henceforth shall be valueless, and he shall pay to the king or to the lord of the manor a sum equivalent to his healsfang [payment due only to those very closely related to a killed man]. Special care must be taken to prevent lawlessness at sacred seasons and in sacred places. The greater a man is and the higher his rank, the more stringent shall be the amends which he shall be required to make to God and to men for lawless behavior. And ecclesiastical amends shall be diligently exacted in accordance with the directions contained in the canon law, and secular amends in accordance with secular law. If anyone slays a priest of the altar, he shall be both excommunicated and outlawed, unless he make amends to the best of his ability by pilgrimage, and likewise by the payment of compensation to the kin of the slain man, or else he shall clear himself by an oath equal in value to his wergeld. He shall begin to make amends to God and men within 30 days, under pain of forfeiting all that he possesses. If an attempt is made to deprive a man in orders or a stranger of his goods or his life, the king shall act as his kinsman and protector unless he has some other. And such compensation as is fitting shall be paid to the king, or he shall avenge the deed to the uttermost. If a minister of the altar commits homicide or any other great crime, he shall be deprived of his ecclesiastical office and banished, and shall travel as a pilgrim as far as the Pope appoints for him and zealously make amends. If he seeks to clear himself, he shall do so by the triple mode of proof. If he does not begin to make amends both to God and men within 30 days, he shall be outlawed. If anyone binds or beats or deeply insults a man in holy orders, he shall make amends towards him and shall pay the fine due to the bishop for sacrilege, in accordance with the rank of the injured man, and to his lord or to the king the full fine for breach of his mund, or he shall clear himself by the full process of exculpation. If a man in holy orders commits a capital crime, he shall be arrested, and his cases shall be reserved for the bishop's decision. If a condemned man desires confession, he shall never be refused him or pay the king 120s. or he shall clear himself by selecting five men and be himself the sixth. *No condemned man shall be put to death during the Sunday festival, unless he flees or fights, but he shall be arrested and kept in custody until the festival is over. If a freeman works during a church festival, he shall make amends by payment of his healsfang and make amends to God according to the directions given him. If as slave works, he shall undergo the lash or pay the fine, according to the nature of the offense. If a lord compels his slave to work during a church festival, he shall lose the slave, who shall then obtain the rights of a freeman and the lord shall pay a fine or clear himself. If a freeman breaks an ordained fast, he shall pay a fine. If a slave does so, he shall undergo the lash or pay the fine in accordance with the nature of the deed. If anyone openly causes a breach of the fast of Lent by fighting or by intercourse with women or by robbery or by any great misdeed, he shall pay double compensation just as he must do during a high festival. If he denies the charge, he shall clear himself by the triple process of exculpation. *If anyone refuses by force the payment of ecclesiastical dues, he shall pay the full fine or he shall clear himself: he shall select 11 men and himself make a twelfth. If he wounds anyone, he shall make amends and pay the full fine to the lord and redeem his hands from the bishop or lose them. If he kills a man, he shall be outlawed and pursued with hostility. If he so acts as to bring about his own death by setting himself against the law, no compensation shall be paid for him. If anyone injures one of the clergy, he shall make amends according to the rank of the person injured, either by the payment of his wergeld or a fine or by the forfeiture of all his property. *If anyone commits adultery, he shall make amends according to the nature of the offense. It is wicked adultery for a pious man to commit fornication with an unmarried woman, and much worse with the wife of another man or with any woman who has taken religious vows. *If anyone commits incest, he shall make amends according to the degree of relationship between them, either by the payment of wergeld or of a fine, or by the forfeiture of all his possessions. *If anyone does violence to a widow or maiden, he shall pay his wergeld. *If a woman commits adultery, her husband shall have all she possesses and she shall lose her nose and her ears. If a married man commits adultery with his own slave, he shall lose her and make amends to God and to men. *If anyone has a lawful wife and also a concubine, no priest shall perform for him any of the offices which must be performed for a Christian man, until he desists and makes amends as the bishop shall direct. Foreigners, if they will not regularize their unions, shall be driven from the land with their possessions, and shall depart in sin. *Any murderer shall be given up to the kinsmen of the slain man. The bishop shall pronounce judgment. *If anyone plots against the king or his own lord, he shall forfeit his life and all that he possesses, unless he proves himself innocent by the triple ordeal. *If anyone violates the protection or a king, archbishop or bishop, he shall pay 5, 3, or 2 pounds respectively as compensation. *Anyone who fights at the king's court shall lose his life, unless pardoned by the king. *If a man unjustly disarms another, he shall compensate him by the payment of his healsfang. If he binds him, he shall compensate by the payment of half his wergeld. If anyone is guilty of a capital deed of violence while serving in the army, he shall lose his life or his wergeld. *If a man makes forcible entry into another man's house, he shall pay 5 pounds to the king. If he is slain in such a case, no compensation shall be paid for his death. *Anyone guilty of robbery shall restore the stolen goods and pay the injured man as much again and forfeit his wergeld to the king. *According to secular law, assaults upon houses, arson, theft which cannot be disproved, murder which cannot be denied, and treachery towards a man's lord are crimes for which no compensation can be paid. If anyone neglects the repair of fortifications or bridges or military service, he shall pay 120s. to the king or he shall clear himself with the support of 11 compurgators out of 14 nominated by the court. The whole nation shall assist in the repair of churches. If anyone unlawfully maintains an excommunicated person, he shall deliver him up in accordance with the law, and pay compensation to him to whom it belongs, and to the king his wergeld. Anyone keeping and maintaining as excommunicated man or an outlaw shall risk losing his life and all his property. Greater leniency shall be shown in passing judgment and in imposing penance on the weak than on the strong because they cannot bear an equally heavy burden. So we distinguish between age and youth, wealth and poverty, freemen and slaves, the sound and the weak. *When a man is an involuntary agent in evil-doing or does something unintentionally, he is more entitled to clemency. All my reeves shall provide for me from my own property and no man need give them anything as purveyance. If any of my reeves demands a fine, he shall forfeit his wergeld to me. The public has been so far too greatly oppressed by this. *If a man dies intestate [without a will], whether through negligence or sudden death, his lord shall take no more than his legal heriot. The property shall be divided among his wife and children and near kinsmen according to the share which belongs to him. Heriots shall be fixed with regard to the rank of the person for whom they are paid. The heriot of any earl is eight horses, four saddled and four unsaddled, four helmets, four coats of chainmail, eight spears, eight shields, four swords, and 200 mancuses of gold. The heriot of a king's thegn is four horses, two saddled and two unsaddled, two swords, four spears, four shields, four helmets, four coats of chain mail and 50 mancuses of gold, but among the Danes who possess rights of jurisdiction 4 pounds. The heriot of an ordinary thegn is a horse and its trappings and his weapons or his healsfang in Wessex, and in Mercia 2 pounds, and in East Anglia 2 pounds. The heriot of a man who stands in a more intimate relationship to the king shall be two horses, one saddled and one unsaddled, one sword, two spears, two shields, and 50 mancuses of gold. The heriot of a man who is inferior in wealth is 2 pounds. When a householder has dwelt all his time free from claims and charges, his wife and children shall dwell there unmolested by litigation. *Every widow who remains a year without a husband shall do what she herself desires. If within the space of a year, she chooses a husband, she shall lose her morning gift and all the property she had from her first husband, and his nearest relatives shall take the land and property which she had held. And the second husband shall forfeit his wergeld to the king or the lord to whom it has been granted. And although she has been married by force, she shall lose her possessions, unless she leaves the man and returns home. And no widow shall be too hastily consecrated as a nun. And every widow shall pay heriots within a year without incurring a fine, if it has not been convenient for her to pay earlier. *No woman or maiden shall be forced to marry a man whom she dislikes, nor shall she be given for money, except the suitor desires of his own freewill to give something. If anyone sets his spear at the door to another man's house, he himself having an errand inside, or if anyone carefully lays any other weapons where they might remain quietly, and another seizes the weapon and works mischief with it, he shall pay compensation for it. He who owns the weapon may clear himself by asserting that the mischief was done without his desire or authority or advice or cognizance. *If anyone carries stolen goods home to his cottage and is detected, the owner shall have what he has tracked. The wife shall be clear of any charge of complicity unless the goods had been put under her lock and key or in her storeroom, her chest, or her cupboard. But no wife can forbid her husband from depositing anything in his cottage. Until now it has been the custom for grasping persons to treat a child which lay in the cradle, even though it had never tasted food, as being guilty as though it were fully intelligent. I forbid this practice. The man who, through cowardice, deserts his lord or his comrades in an expedition, either by sea or by land, shall lose all he possesses and his own life, and the lord shall take back the property and the land which he had given him. And if he has land held by title-deed it shall pass into the king's hands. The heriots of the man who falls before his lord during a campaign, whether within the country or abroad, shall be remitted, and the heirs shall succeed to his land and property and make a very just division of the same. He who, with the cognisance of the shire, has performed the services demanded from a landowner on expedition, either by sea or by land, shall hold his land unmolested by litigation during his life, and at his death shall have the right of disposing of it or giving it to whomsoever he pleases. *Every man is entitled to hunt in the woods and fields on his own property. But everyone, under pain of incurring the full penalty, shall avoid hunting on my preserves. There shall never be any interference with bargains successfully concluded or with the legal gifts made by a lord. Every man shall be entitled to protection in going to and from assemblies, unless he is a notorious thief. *He who violates the law shall forfeit his wergeld to the king. And he who violates it again, shall pay his wergeld twice over. And if he is so presumptuous as to break it a third time, shall lose all he possesses. Love God and follow his law and obey our spiritual leaders, for it is their duty to lead us to the judgment of God according to our works wrought. Do what is right and good and guard against the hot fire of hell. God Almighty have mercy upon us all, as His Will may be. Amen. The Laws for London were: "1. The gates called Aldersgate and Cripplegate were in charge of guards. 2. If a small ship came to Billingsgate, one halfpenny was paid as toll; if a larger ship with sails, one penny was paid. 1) If a hulk or merchantman arrives and lies there, four pence is paid as toll. 2) From a ship with a cargo of planks, one plank is given as -toll. 3) On three days of the week toll for cloth [is paid] on Sunday and Tuesday and Thursday. 4) A merchant who came to the bridge with a boat containing fish paid one halfpenny as toll, and for a larger ship one penny." 5) - 8) Foreigners with wine or blubber fish or other goods and their tolls. (Foreigners were allowed to buy wool, melted sheep fat [tallow], and three live pigs for their ships.) "3. If the town reeve or the village reeve or any other official accuses anyone of having withheld toll, and the man replies that he has kept back no toll which it was his legal duty to pay, he shall swear to this with six others and shall be quit of the charge. 1) If he declares that he has paid toll, he shall produce the -man to whom he paid it, and shall be quit of the charge. 2) If, however, he cannot produce the man to whom he paid it, he shall pay the actual toll and as much again and five pounds to the King. 3) If he vouches the taxgatherer to warranty [asserting] that he paid toll to him, and the latter denies it, he shall clear himself by the ordeal and by no other means of proof. 4. And we [the king and his counselors] have decreed that a man who, within the town, makes forcible entry into another man's -house without permission and commits a breach of the peace of the worst kind and he who assaults an innocent person on the King's highway, if he is slain, shall lie in an unhonored grave. 1) If, before demanding justice, he has recourse to violence, but does not lose his life thereby, he shall pay five pounds for breach of the King's peace. 2) If he values the goodwill of the town itself, he shall pay us thirty shillings as compensation, if the King will grant us -this concession." 5. No base coin or coin defective in quality or weight, foreign or English, may be used by a foreigner or an Englishman. (In 956, a person found guilty of illicit coining was punished by loss of a hand.) Judicial Procedure There were courts for different geographical communities: shires, hundreds, and vills. The arrangement of the whole kingdom into shires was completed by 975 after being united under King Edgar. A shire was a large area of land, headed by an earl. A shire reeve or "sheriff" represented the royal interests in the shires and in the shire courts. This officer came to be selected by the king and earl of the shire to be a judicial and financial deputy of the earl and to execute the law. The office of sheriff, which was not hereditary, was also responsible for the administration of royal lands and royal accounts. The sheriff summoned the freemen holding land in the shire, four men selected by each community or township, and all public officers to meet twice a year at their "shiremotes". Actually only the great lords - the bishops, earls, and thegns - attended. The shire court was primarily concerned with issues of the larger landholders. Here the freemen interpreted the customary law of the locality. The earl declared the secular law and the bishop declared the spiritual law. They also declared the sentence of the judges. The earl usually took a third of the profits, such as fines and forfeits, of the shire court, and the bishop took a share. In time, the earls each came to supervise several shires and the sheriff became head of the shire and assumed the earl's duties there, such as heading the shire fyrd. The shire court also heard cases which had been refused justice at the hundredmote and cases of keeping the peace of the shire. The hundred was a division of the shire, having come to refer to a geographical area rather than a number of households. The monthly hundredmote could be attended by any freeman holding land (or a lord's steward), but was usually attended only by reeve, thegns, parish priest, and four representatives selected by each agrarian community or village - usually villeins. Here transfers of land were witnessed. The sheriff, or a reeve in his place, presided over minor local criminal and peace and order issues. When the jurisdiction was in the hands of a sheriff, it was called the sheriff's tourn. All residents were expected to attend this court. When the jurisdiction was in private hands, it was called a leet court. Leet jurisdiction derived from sac and soke jurisdiction. Sac and soc jurisdiction was possession of legal powers of execution and profits of justice held by a noble or institution over inhabitants and tenants of the estate, exercised through a private court. The sheriff usually held each hundred court, which heard civil cases. The suitors to these courts were the same as those of the shire courts. They were the judges who declared the law and ordered the form of proof, such as compurgatory oath and ordeal. They were customarily thegns, often twelve in number. They, as well as the king and the earl, received part of the profits of justice. Summary procedure was followed when a criminal was caught in the act or seized after a hue and cry. Every freeman over age twelve had to be in a hundred and had to follow the hue and cry. In 997, King Ethelred in a law code ordered the sheriff and twelve leading magnates of each shire to swear to accuse no innocent man, nor conceal any guilty one. This was the germ of the later assize, and later still the jury. The integrity of the judicial system was protected by certain penalties: for swearing a false oath, bot as determined by a cleric who has heard his confession, or, if he has not confessed, denial of burial in consecrated ground. Also a perjurer lost his oath-worthiness. Swearing a false oath or perjury was also punishable by loss of one's hand or half one's wergeld. A lord denying justice, as by upholding an evildoing thegn of his, had to pay 120s. to the king for his disobedience. Furthermore, if a lord protected a theow of his who had stolen, he had to forfeit the theow and pay his wer, for the first offense, and he was liable for all he property, for subsequent offenses. There was a bot for anyone harboring a convicted offender. If anyone failed to attend the gemot thrice after being summoned, he was to pay the king a fine for his disobedience. If he did not pay this fine or do right, the chief men of the burh were to ride to him, and take all his property to put into surety. If he did not know of a person who would be his surety, he was to be imprisoned. Failing that, he was to be killed. But if he escaped, anyone who harbored him, knowing him to be a fugitive, would be liable pay his wer. Anyone who avenged a thief without wounding anyone, had to pay the king 120s. as wite for the assault. "And if anyone is so rich or belongs to so powerful a kindred, that he cannot be restrained from crime or from protecting and harboring criminals, he shall be led out of his native district with his wife and children, and all his goods, to any part of the kingdom which the King chooses, be he noble or commoner, whoever he may be - with the provision that he shall never return to his native district. And henceforth, let him never be encountered by anyone in that district; otherwise he shall be treated as a thief caught in the act." Courts controlled by lords of large private estates had various kinds of jurisdiction recognized by the King: sac and soke [possession of legal powers of execution and profits of justice held by a noble or institution over inhabitants and tenants of the estate, exercised through a private court], toll [right to collect a payment on the sale of cattle and property] and team [right to hold a court to determine the honesty of a man accused of illegal possession of cattle], infangenetheof [the authority to judge and to hang and take the chattels of a thief caught on the property], and utfangenetheof [the authority to judge, punish, and take the chattels of a thief dwelling out of his liberty, and committing theft without the same, if he were caught within the lord's property]. Some lords were even given jurisdiction over breach of the royal peace, ambush and treacherous manslaughter, harboring of outlaws, forced entry into a residence, and failure to answer a military summons. Often this court's jurisdiction overlapped that of the hundred court and sometimes a whole hundred had passed under the jurisdiction of an abbot, bishop, or earl. A lord and his noble lady, or his steward, presided at this court. The law was administered here on the same principles as at the hundred court. Judges of the leet [minor criminal jurisdiction] of the court of a large private estate were chosen from the constables and four representatives selected from each community, village, or town. The vill [similar to village] was the smallest community for judicial purposes. There were several vills in a hundred. Before a dispute went to the hundred court, it might be taken care of by the head tithing man, e.g. cases between vills, between neighbors, and some compensations and settlements, namely concerning pastures, meadows, harvests, and contests between neighbors. In London, the Hustings Court met weekly and decided such issues as wills and bequests and commerce matters. The folkmote of all citizens met three times a year. Each ward had a leet court. The king and his witan decided the complaints and issues of the nobility and those cases which had not received justice in the hundred or shire court. The witan had a criminal jurisdiction and could imprison or outlaw a person. The witan could even compel the king to return any land he might have unjustly taken. Especially punishable by the king was "oferhyrnesse": contempt of the king's law. It covered refusal of justice, neglect of summons to gemot or pursuit of thieves, disobedience to the king's officers, sounding the king's coin, accepting another man's dependent without his leave, buying outside markets, and refusing to pay Peter's pence. The forests were peculiarly subject to the absolute will of the king. They were outside the common law. Their unique customs and laws protected the peace of the animals rather than the king's subjects. Only special officials on special commissions heard their cases. The form of oaths for compurgation were specified for theft of cattle, unsoundness of property bought, and money owed for a sale. The defendant denied the accusation by sweating that "By the Lord, I am guiltless, both in deed and counsel, and of the charge of which … accuses me." A compurgator swore that "By the Lord, the oath is clean and unperjured which … has sworn.". A witness swore that "In the name of Almighty God, as I here for … 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 a theow man was guilty at the ordeal, he was not only to give compensation, but was to be scourged thrice, or a second geld [compensation] be given; and be the wite of half value for theows. This lawsuit between a son and his mother over land was heard at a shire meeting: "Here it is declared in this document that a shire meeting sat at Aylton in King Cnut's time. There were present Bishop AEthelstan and Earl Ranig and Edwin, the Earl's son, and Leofwine, Wulfsige's son, and Thurkil the White; and Tofi the Proud came there on the King's business, and Bryning the sheriff was present, and AEthelweard of Frome and Leofwine of Frome and Godric of Stoke and all the thegns of Herefordshire. Then Edwin, Enneawnes son, came traveling to the meeting and sued his own mother for a certain piece of land, namely Wellington and Cradley. Then the bishop asked whose business it was to answer for his mother, and Thurkil the White replied that it was his business to do so, if he knew the claim. As he did not know the claim, three thegns were chosen from the meeting [to ride] to the place where she was, namely at Fawley, and these were Leofwine of Frome and AEthelsige the Red and Winsige the seaman, and when they came to her they asked her what claim she had to the lands for which her son was suing her. Then she said that she had no land that in any way belonged to him, and was strongly incensed against her son, and summoned to her kinswoman, Leofflaed, Thurkil's wife, and in front of them said to her as follows: 'Here sits Leofflaed, my kinswoman, to whom, after my death, I grant my land and my gold, my clothing and my raiment and all that I possess.' And then she said to the thegns: 'Act like thegns, and duly announce my message to the meeting before all the worthy men, and tell them to whom I have granted my land and all my property, and not a thing to my own son, and ask them to be witnesses of this.' And they did so; they rode to the meeting and informed all the worthy men of the charge that she had laid upon them. Then Thurkil the White stood up in the meeting and asked all the thegns to give his wife the lands unreservedly which her kinswoman had granted her, and they did so. Then Thurkil rode to St. AEthelbert's minister, with the consent and cognizance of the whole assembly, and had it recorded in a gospel book." The Times: 1066-1100 William came from Normandy, France, to conquer England. He claimed that the former King, Edward, the Confessor, had promised the throne to him when they were growing up together in Normandy, if Edward became King of England and had no children. The Conquerer's men and horses came in boats powered by oars and sails. The conquest did not take long because of the superiority of his military expertise to that of the English. He organized his army into three groups: archers with bows and arrows, horsemen with swords and stirrups, and footmen with hand weapons. Each group played a specific role in a strategy planned in advance. The English army was only composed of footmen with hand weapons such as spears and shields. They fought in a line holding up their shields to overlap each other and form a shieldwall. The defeat of the English was thought to have been presaged by a comet. At Westminster, he made an oath to defend God's holy churches and their rulers, to rule the whole people subject to him with righteousness and royal providence, to enact and hold fast right law, and to utterly forbid rapine and unrighteous judgments. This was in keeping with the traditional oath of a new king. Declaring the English who fought against him to be traitors, the Conquerer declared their land confiscated. But he allowed those who were willing to acknowledge him to redeem their land by a payment of money. As William conquered the land of the realm, he parceled it out among the barons who fought with him so that each baron was given the holdings of an Anglo-Saxon predecessor, scattered though they were. The barons again made oaths of personal loyalty to him [fealty]. They agreed to hold the land as his vassals with future military services to him and receipt of his protection. They gave him homage by folding their hands within his and saying "I become your man for the tenement I hold of you, and I will bear you faith in life and member [limb] and earthly honor against all men". They held their land "of their lord", the King, by knight's service. The king had "enfeoffed" them [given them a fief: a source of income] with land. The theory that by right all land was the King's and that land was held by others only at his gift and in return for specified service was new to English thought. The original duration of a knight's fee until about 1100 was for his life; thereafter it was heritable. The word "knight" came to replace the word "thegn" as a person who received his position and land by fighting for the King. The exact obligation of knight's service was to furnish a fully armed horseman to serve at his own expense for forty days in the year. This service was not limited to defense of the country, but included fighting abroad. The baron led his own knights under his banner. The foot soldiers were from the fyrd or were mercenaries. Every free man was sworn to join in the defense of the king, his lands and his honor, within England and without. The Saxon governing class was destroyed. The independent power of earls, who had been drawn from three great family houses, was curtailed. Most died or fled the country. Some men were allowed to redeem their land by money payment if they showed loyalty to the Conquerer. Well-born women crowded into nunneries to escape Norman violence. The people were deprived of their most popular leaders, who were excluded from all positions of trust and profit, especially all the clergy. The earldoms became fiefs instead of magistracies. The Conquerer was a stern and fierce man and ruled as an autocrat by terror. Whenever the people revolted or resisted his mandates, he seized their lands or destroyed the crops and laid waste the countryside and so that they starved to death. This example pacified others. His rule was strong, resolute, wise, and wary. He was not arbitrary or oppressive. The Conquerer had a strict system of policing the nation. Instead of the Anglo-Saxon self-government throughout the districts and hundreds of resident authorities in local courts, he aimed at substituting for it the absolute rule of the barons under military rule so favorable to the centralizing power of the Crown. He used secret police and spies and the terrorism this system involved. This especially curbed the minor barons and preserved the public peace. The English people, who outnumbered the Normans by 300 to 1, were disarmed. Curfew bells were rung at 7:00 PM when everyone had to remain in their own dwellings on pain of death and all fires and candles were to be put out. This prevented any nightly gatherings, assassinations, or seditions. Order was brought to the kingdom so that no man dare kill another, no matter how great the injury he had received. The Conquerer extended the King's peace on the highways, i.e. roads on high ground, to include the whole nation. Any individual of any rank could travel from end to end of the land unharmed. Before, prudent travelers would travel only in groups of twenty. The barons subjugated the English who were on their newly acquired land. There began a hierarchy of seisin of land so that there could be no land without its lord. Also, every lord had a superior lord with the king as the overlord or supreme landlord. One piece of land may be held by several tenures. For instance, A, holding by barons' service of the King, may enfeoff B, a church, to hold of him on the terms of praying for the souls of his ancestors, and B may enfeoff a freeman C to hold of the church by giving it a certain percentage of his crops every year. There were about 200 barons who held land directly of the King. Other fighting men were the knights, who were tenants or subtenants of a baron. Knighthood began as a reward for valor on the field of battle by the king or a noble. The value of a knight's fee was 400s. [20 pounds] per year. Altogether there were about 5000 fighting men holding land. The essence of Norman feudalism was that the land remained under the lord, whatever the vassal might do. The lord had the duty to defend the vassals on his land. The vassal owed military service to the lord and also the service of attending the courts of the hundred and the county [formerly "shire">[, which were courts of the King, administering old customary law. They were the King's courts on the principle that a crime anywhere was a breach of the King's peace. The King's peace that had covered his residence and household had extended to places where he might travel, such as highways, rivers, bridges, churches, monasteries, markets, and towns, and then encompassed every place, replacing the general public peace. Infraction of the King's peace incurred fines to the King. This feudal bond based on occupancy of land rather than on personal ties was uniform throughout the realm. No longer could a man choose his lord and transfer his land with him to a new lord. He held his land at the will of his lord, to be terminated anytime the lord decided to do so. A tenant could not alienate his land without permission of his lord. In later eras, tenancies would be held for the life of the tenant, and even later, for his life and those of his heirs. This uniformity of land organization plus the new requirement that every freeman take an oath of loyalty directly to the king to assist him in preserving his lands and honor and defending him against his enemies, which oath would supersede any oath to any other man, gave the nation a new unity. The king could call men directly to the fyrd, summon them to his court, and tax them without intervention of their lords. And the people learned to look to the king for protection from abuse by their lords. English villani, bordarii, cottarii, and servi on the land of the barons were subjugated into a condition of "villeinage" servitude and became "tied to the land" so that they could not leave the land without their lord's permission, except to go on a pilgrimage. The villeins formed a new bottom class as the population's percentage of slaves declined dramatically. They held their land of their lord, the baron. To guard against uprisings of the conquered people, the barons used villein labor to build about a hundred great stone castles, with moats and walls with towers around them, at easily defensible positions such as hilltops all over the nation. A castle could be built only with permission of the King. A typical castle had a stone building of about four floors The castle building typically was entered by an outer wood staircase to the guard room on the second floor. The first [ground] floor had a well and was used as a storehouse and/or dungeons for prisoners. The second floor had a two-storied great hall, with small rooms and aisles around it within the thick walls. There was also a chapel area on the second floor. There were small areas of the third floor which could be used for sleeping. The floors were wood and were reached by a spiral stone staircase in one corner of the building. Sometimes there was a reservoir of water on an upper level with pipes carrying the water to floors below. Each floor had a fireplace with a slanted flue going through the wall to the outside. There were latrines in the corner walls with a pit or shaft down the exterior of the wall, sometimes to the moat. Furs and wool clothes were hung on the walls there in the summer to deter the moths. The first floor had only arrow slits in the walls, but the higher floors had small windows. Some curtain-wall castles did not have a central building. In these, the hall was built along the inside of the walls, as were other continuous buildings. The kitchens and chapels were in the towers. Lodgings were in buildings along the curtain-walls, or on several floors of the towers. The great hall was the main room of the castle. The hall was used for meals and meetings at which the lord received homages, recovered fees, and held the view of frankpledge [free pledge in Latin], in which freemen agreed to be sureties for each other and pay a claim directed at one of them if that man escaped. At the main table, the lord and his lady sat on benches with backs or chairs. The table was covered first with a wool cloth that reached to the floor, and then by a smaller white linen cloth. Everyone else sat on benches at trestle tables, which consisted of planks on trestles and could be dismantled, e.g. at night. Over the main door were the family arms. On the walls were swords ready for instant use. On the upper parts of the walls could be fox skins and perhaps a polecat skin, and keepers' and huntsmen's poles. There were often hawk perches overhead. At the midday dinner, courses were ceremonially brought in to music, and ritual bows were made to the lord. The food at the head table was often tasted first by a servant as a precaution against poison. Hounds, spaniels, and terriers lay near the hearth and cats, often with litters, nestled nearby. They might share in dinner, but the lord may keep a short stick near him to defend morsels he meant for himself. Hunting, dove cotes, and carp pools provided fresh meat. Fish was compulsory eating on Fridays, on fast days, and during Lent. Cooking was done outside on an open fire, roasting on spits and boiling in pots. Some spits were mechanized with a cogged wheel and a weight at the end of a string. Other spits were turned by a long handle, or a small boy shielded from the heat by a wet blanket, or by dogs on a treadmill. Underneath the spit was a dripping pan to hold the falling juices and fat. Mutton fat was used for candles. Bread, pies, and pastry dishes were baked in an oven: a hole in a fireproof stone wall fitted with an iron door, in which wood was first burnt to heat the oven walls. It could also be used for drying fruit or melting tallow. Fruits were also preserved in honey. Salt was stored in a niche in the wall near the hearth and put on the table in a salt cellar which became more elaborate over the years. Salt was very valuable and gave rise to the praise of a man as the salt of the earth. Costly imported spices such as cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, pepper, and a small quantity of sugar were kept in chests. Pepper was always on the table to disguise the taste of tainted meat. Spices were tried for medicinal use. Drinks included wine, ale, cider from apples, perry from pears, and mead. People carried and used their own knives. There were no forks. Spoons were of silver or wood. People also ate with their fingers and washed their hands before and after meals. It was impolite to dig into the salt bowl with a knife not previously wiped on bread or napkin, which was linen. It was unmannerly to wipe one's knife or one's greasy fingers on the tablecloth or, to use the tablecloth to blow one's nose. Feasts were stately occasions with costly tables and splendid apparel. There were practical jokes, innocent frolics, and witty verbal debating with repartee. They played chess, checkers, and various games with cards and dice. Most people could sing and some could play the lute. Lighting of the hall at night was by oil lamps or candles on stands or on wall fixtures. For outside activities, a lantern Markets grew up outside castle walls. Any trade on a lord's land was subject to "passage", a payment on goods passing through, "stallage", a payment for setting up a stall or booth in a market, and "pontage", a payment for taking goods across a bridge. The Norman man was clean shaven on his face and around his ears and at the nape of the neck. His hair was short. He wore a long- sleeved under-tunic of linen or wool that reached to his ankles. Over this the Norman noble wore a tunic without sleeves, open at the sides, and fastened with a belt. Over one shoulder was his cloak, which was fastened on the opposite shoulder by being drawn through a ring brooch and knotted. He wore tight thick cloth stockings to protect him from the mud and leather shoes. Common men wore durable, but drab, wool tunics to the knee so as not to impede them in their work. They could roll up their stockings when working in the fields. A lady wore a high-necked, long- sleeved linen or wool tunic fitted at the waist and laced at the side, but full in the skirt, which reached to her toes. She wore a jeweled belt, passed twice around her waist and knotted in front. Her hair was often in two long braids, and her head and ears covered with a white round cloth held in place by a metal circlet like a small crown. Its ends were wound around her neck. In winter, she wore over her tunic a cloak edged or lined with fur and fastened at the front with a cord. Clothes of both men and ladies were brightly colored by dyes or embroidery. The Norman knight wore an over-tunic of leather or heavy linen on which were sewn flat rings of iron and a conical iron helmet with nose cover. He wore a sword at his waist and a metal shield on his back, or he wore his sword and his accompanying retainers carried spear and shield. Norman customs were adopted by the nation. As a whole, Anglo-Saxon men shaved their beards and whiskers from their faces, but they kept their custom of long hair flowing from their heads. But a few kept their whiskers and beards in protest of the Normans. Everyone had a permanent surname indicating parentage, place of birth, or residence, such as Field, Pitt, Lane, Bridge, Ford, Stone, Burn, Church, Hill, Brook, Green. Other names came from occupations such as Shepherd, Carter, Parker, Fowler, Hunter, Forester, Smith. Still other came from personal characteristics such as Black, Brown, and White, Short, Round, and Long. Some took their names from animals such as Wolf, Fox, Lamb, Bull, Hogg, Sparrow, Crow, and Swan. Others were called after the men they served, such as King, Bishop, Abbot, Prior, Knight. A man's surname was passed on to his son. Those few coerls whose land was not taken by a baron remained free and held their land "in socage" and became known as sokemen. They were not fighting men, and did not give homage, but might give fealty, i.e. fidelity. Many free sokemen were caught up in the subjugation by baron landlords and were reduced almost to the condition of the unfree villein. The services they performed for their lords were often indistinguishable. They might also hold their land by villein tenure, although free as a person with the legal rights of a freeman. The freeman still had a place in court proceedings which the unfree villein did not. Great stone cathedrals were built in fortified towns for the Conquerer's Norman bishops, who replaced the English bishops. Bishops periodically inspected the parishes in their dioceses to maintain discipline aqnd settle any matters that were beyond the local priest's competence, for instance the sacrament of confirmation, in which was conferred upon a Christian soul a special strengthening grace after he confirmed his belief in the tenets of Christianity. Most of the existing and new monasteries functioned as training grounds for scholars, bishops, and statesmen rather than as retreats from the world's problems to the security of religious observance. The number of monks grew as the best minds were recruited into the monasteries. The Conquerer made the church subordinate to him. Bishops were elected only subject to the King's consent. The bishops had to accept the status of barons. Homage was exacted from them before they were consecrated, and fealty and an oath afterward. The Conquerer imposed knight's service on bishoprics, abbeys, and monasteries, which was usually commuted to a monetary amount. Bishops had to attend the King's court. Bishops could not leave the realm without the King's consent. No royal tenant or royal servant could be excommunicated, nor his lands be placed under interdict, without the King's consent. Interdict could demand, for instance, that the church be closed and the dead buried in unconsecrated ground. No church rules could be made without his agreement to their terms. No letters from the pope could be received without the King's permission. The Archbishop of Canterbury was still recognized as a primary advisor to the king. Over the years, the selection for this office frequently became a source of contention among king, pope, and clergy. Men continued to give land to the church for their souls, such as this grant which started the town of Sandwich: "William, King of the English, to Lanfranc the Archbishop and Hugoni de Montfort and Richard son of Earl Gilbert and Haimo the sheriff and all the thegns of Kent, French and English, greeting. Know ye that the Bishop of Bayeux my brother for the love of God and for the salvation of my soul and his own, has given to St. Trinity all houses with their appurtenances which he has at Sandwich and that he has given what he has given by my license." Many private owners of churches gave them to cathedrals or monastic communities, partly to ensure their long term survival, and partly because of church pressure. When the land was all divided out, the barons had about 3/7 of it and the church about 2/7. Most of the barons had been royal servants. The king retained about 2/7, including forests for hunting, for himself and his family and household, on which he built many royal castles and hundreds of manor [large private estate headed by a lord] houses throughout the nation. He built the massive White Tower in London. It was tall with four turrets on top, and commanded a view of the river and bridge, the city and the surrounding countryside. The only windows were slits from which arrows could be shot. On the fourth and top floor was the council chamber and the gallery of the chapel. On the third floor was the banqueting hall, the sword room, and the chapel. The king and his household slept in apartments on these upper floors. Stairs went up to the gateway entrance on the second floor, which were hidden by a wall. The garrison's barracks were on the first floor (ground floor). Any prisoners were kept in cells at a level below the first floor. The other castles were often built at the old fortification burhs of Alfred. Each had a constable in charge, who was a baron. Barons and earls had castle-guard duty in the king's castles. The Conquerer was constantly moving about the land among his and his barons' castles, where he met with his magnates and conducted public business, such as deciding disputes about holding of land. Near his own castles and other of his property, he designated many areas as royal hunting forests. Anyone who killed a deer in these forests was mutilated, for instance by blinding. People living within the boundaries of the designated forestland could no longer go into nearby woods to get meat or honey, dead wood for firing, or live wood for building. Swineherds could no longer drive pigs into these woods to eat acorns they beat down from oak trees. Making clearings and grazing livestock in the designated forestland were prohibited. Most of the nation was either wooded or bog at this time. London was a walled town of one and two story houses made of mud, twigs, and straw, with thatched roofs. It included a bundle of communities, townships, parishes, and lordships. There were churches, a goods market, a fish market, quays on the river, and a bridge over the river. Streets probably named by this time include Bread Street, Milk Street, Honey Lane, Wood Street, and Ironmonger Lane. Fairs and games were held outside the town walls in a field called "Smithfield". The great citizens had the land qualifications of knights and ranked as barons on the Conquerer's council. The freemen were a small percentage of London's population. There was a butchers' guild, a pepperers' guild, a goldsmiths' guild, the guild of St. Lazarus, which was probably a leper charity (of which there were many in the 1000s and 1100s), the Pilgrims' guild, which helped people going on pilgrimages, and four bridge guilds, probably for keeping the wooden London Bridge in repair. Men told the time by sundials, some of which were portable and could be carried in one's pocket. London could defend itself, and a ringing of the bell of St. Paul's Church could shut every shop and fill the streets with armed horsemen and soldiers led by a soldier portreeve. Across the Thames from London on its south side was Southwark, a small trading and fishing settlement. The Conquerer did not interfere with landholding in London, but recognized its independence as a borough in this writ: "William the King greets William, Bishop of London, and Gosfrith the portreeve, and all the burgesses [citizens] of London friendly. Know that I will that you be worthy of all the laws you were worthy of in the time of King Edward. And I will that every child shall be his father's heir after his father's day. And I will not suffer any man to do you wrong. God preserve you." So London was not subjected to the Norman feudal system. It had neither villeins nor slaves. Whenever Kings asserted authority over it, the citizens reacted until the king "granted" a charter reaffirming the freedoms of the city and its independence. Under pressure from the ecclesiastical judges, the Conquerer replaced the death penalty by that of the mutilation of blinding, chopping off hands, and castrating offenders. Castration was the punishment for rape. But these mutilations usually led to a slow death by gangrene. The Normans used the Anglo-Saxon concepts of jurisdictional powers. Thus when the Conquerer confirmed "customs" to the abbot of Ely, these were understood to include the following: 1) sac and soke - the right to hold a court of private jurisdiction and enjoy its profits, 2) toll - a payment in towns, markets, and fairs for goods and chattel bought and sold, 3) team - persons might be vouched to warranty in the court, the grant of which made a court capable of hearing suits arising from the transfer of land, 4) infangenthef - right of trying and executing thieves on one's land, 4) hamsocne [jurisdiction over breach of the right of security and privacy in a man's house, e.g. by forcible entry], 5) grithbrice - violation of the grantees' special peace, for instance that of the sheriff, 6) fightwite - fine for a general breach of the peace, 7) fyrdwite - fine for failure to appear in the fyrd. Every shire, now called "county", had at least one burh, or defensible town. Kings had appointed a royal moneyer in each burh to mint silver coins such as pennies for local use. On one side was the King's head in profile and on the other side was the name of the moneyer. When a new coinage was issued, all moneyers had to go to London to get the new dies. The Conquerer's head faced frontally on his dies, instead of the usual profile used by former Kings. The Conquerer held and presided over his council three times a year, as was the custom, at Easter, Christmas, and Whitsuntide, which coincided with the great Christian festivals. This was an advisory council and consisted of the Conquerer's wife and sons, earls, barons, knights, officers of the King's household, archbishops, and bishops. It replaced the witan of wise men. It dealt with fundamental matters of law, state, war, and church. Earldoms and knighthoods were conferred and homages to the king were witnessed. Bishops were nominated. Attendance at the council, like attendance at courts, was regarded as a burden rather than a privilege. The Conquerer's will was the motive force which under lay all the council's action. When it was administering royal justice, it was called the Royal Court. The Justiciar was the head of all legal matters and he or the Conquerer's wife represented the King at the Royal Court in his absence from the realm. The chamberlain was a financial officer of the household; his work was rather that of auditor or accountant. The Chancellor headed the Chancery and the chapel. Other household offices were steward, butler, constable, and marshall. The Treasurer was responsible for the collection and distribution of revenue and was the keeper of the royal treasure at the palace at Winchester. He was also an important member of the household and sat in the Exchequer at Westminster, where he received the accounts of the sheriffs. The Exchequer was composed of the Justiciar as head, the chancellor, the constable, two chamberlains, the marshall and other experienced councilors. The word "Exchequer" came from the chequered cloth on the table used to calculate in Roman numerals the amount due and the amount paid. The word "calculate" derives from the word "calculi", meaning pebbles. It was a kind of abacus. The Exchequer received yearly from the sheriffs of the counties taxes, fines, treasure trove, goods from wrecks, deodands, and movable property of felons, of persons executed, of fugitives, and of outlaws due to the Crown. The Conqueror presided yearly over feasts involving several thousand guests at Westminster Hall, which was 250 feet by 70 feet with a high ceiling, the largest hall in England. The Conquerer's reign was a time of tentative expedients and simple solutions. He administered by issuing writs with commands or prohibitions. These were read aloud by the sheriffs in the county courts and other locations. Administration was by the personal servants of his royal household, such as the chancellor, chamberlain, constable, marshals, steward, and butler. The language of government changed to Latin. The chancellor was from the clergy and supervised the writers and clerks, who were literate, and appended the great seal before witnesses to documents. He also headed the staff of the royal chapel. The chamberlain was a financial officer who audited and accounted. The constable was responsible for supplies for the knights of the royal household. He also supervised the care of horses, hounds, hawks, and huntsmen, houndsmen, and foresters. The marshals came from less important families than the constable and they preserved order in the king's hall and recorded expenditures of the household officers on tallies. The steward was a great baron whose duties were chiefly ceremonial, such as placing the dishes before the king at banquets. Sheriffs, who had first been head of shires, became powerful figures as the primary agents for enforcing royal edicts. There was no longer supervision of them by earls nor influence on them by bishops. They were customarily prominent barons. They collected the royal taxes, executed royal justice, and presided over and controlled the hundred and county courts. They were responsible for remitting a certain sum annually. If a sheriff received more than necessary, he retained the difference as his lawful profit of office. If he received less than necessary, he had to make up the difference from his own pocket. Before rendering this account, he paid the royal benefactions to religious houses, provided for the maintenance of stock on crown lands, paid for the costs of provisions supplied to the court, and paid for traveling expenses of the king and his visitors. The payments were initially paid in kind: e.g. grain, cattle, horses, hounds, and hawks. Sheriffs also took part in the keeping of castles and often managed the estates of the King. Most royal writs were addressed to the sheriff and county courts. They also led the county militia in time of war or rebellion. At times, a sheriff usurped royal rights, used royal estates for his own purposes, encroached on private land and rights, extorted money, and collected revenues only for his own pockets. Over the centuries, there was much competition for the authority to select the sheriff, e.g. by the king, the county court, the barons, and the Exchequer. There was also much pressure to limit his term to one year. Over time, the powers of the sheriffs slowly declined. Royal income came from customary dues, profits of coinage and of justice, and revenues from the King's own estates. For war, there was no change in the custom that a man with five hides of land was required to furnish one heavy armed horseman for forty days service in a year. The fyrd was retained. A threat of a Viking invasion caused the Conquerer to reinstate the danegeld tax at 6s. per hide, which was three times its old rate. (The price of an ox was still about 30d.) To impose this tax uniformly, he sent commissioners to conduct surveys by sworn verdicts of appointed groups of local men. A detailed survey of land holdings and the productive worth of each was made in 1086. The English called it the "Doomsday Book" because there was no appeal from it. The survey revealed, for instance, that one estate had "on the home farm five plough teams: there are also 25 villeins and 6 cotters with 14 teams among them. There is a mill worth 2s. a year and one fishery, a church and four acres of meadow, wood for 150 pigs and two stone quarries, each worth 2s. a year, and two nests of hawks in the wood and 10 slaves." This estate was deemed to be worth 480s. a year. Laxton "had 2 carucates of land [assessed] to the geld. [There is] land for 6 ploughs. There Walter, a man of [the lord] Geoffrey Alselin's has 1 plough and 22 villeins and 7 bordars Ilbert de Laci has now this land, where he has twelve ploughs in the demesne; and forty-eight villani, and twelve bordars with fifteen ploughs, and three churches and three priests, and three mills of ten shillings. Wood pastures two miles long, and one broad. The whole manor five miles long and two broad. Value in King Edward's time sixteen pounds, the same now. That manor of the town of Coventry which was individually held was that of the Countess of Coventry, who was the wife of the earl of Mercia. "The Countess held in Coventry. There are 5 hides. The arable land employs 20 ploughs. In the demesne lands there are 3 ploughs and 7 bondmen. There are 50 villeins and 12 bordars with 20 ploughs. The mill there pay The survey shows a few manors and monasteries owned a salthouse or saltpit in the local saltworks, from which they were entitled to obtain salt. In total there were about 110,000 villani [former coerls regarded as customary, irremovable cultivator tenants]; 82,000 bordarii; 7,000 cotarii and cotseti [held land by service of labor or rent paid in produce], and 25,000 servi [landless laborers]. There are no more theows. This survey resulted in the first national tax system of about 6s. per hide of land. The survey also provided the Conquerer with a summary of customs of areas. For instance, in Oxfordshire, "Anyone breaking the King's peace given under his hand and seal to the extent of committing homicide shall be at the King's mercy in respect of his life and members. That is if he be captured. And if he cannot be captured, he shall be considered as an outlaw, and anyone who kills him shall have all his possessions. The king shall take the possessions of any stranger who has elected to live in Oxford and who dies in possession of a house in that town, and without any kinfolk. The king shall be entitled to the body and the possessions of any man who kills another within his own court or house excepting always the dower of his wife, if he has a wife who has received dower. The courts of the king and barons became schools of chivalry wherein seven year old noble boys became pages or valets, wore a dagger and waited upon the ladies of the household. At age fourteen, they were advanced to squires and admitted into more familiar association with the knights and ladies of the court. They perfected their skills in dancing, riding, fencing, hawking, hunting, jousting, and engaged in team sports in which the goal was to put the other side to rout. They learned the knightly art of war. Enemy fighters were to be taken and held for ransom rather than killed. Those engaging in rebellion were to be pardoned and restored to some or all of their lands and titles. Lords' sons could be mutually exchanged with an enemy's as security for peace. After achieving knighthood, a man usually selected a wife from the court at which he grew up. Parents tried to send their daughters to a household superior in social status not only to learn manners, but to make a good marriage. A girl who did not marry was often sent to a nunnery; a dowry was necessary before her acceptance. The following incidents of land tenure began (but were not firmly established until the reign of Henry II). Each tenant, whether baron or subtenant, was to pay an "aid" in money for ransom if his lord was captured in war, for the knighthood of his lord's eldest son, and for the marriage of his lord's eldest daughter. The aid was theoretically voluntary. Land could be held by an heir only if he could fight. The eldest son began to succeed to the whole of the lands in all military tenures. Actually, William and his sons insisted on undivided succession rather than a strict application of the primogeniture rule that the eldest son inherit.Younger sons of great houses became bishops. An heir of a tenant had to pay a heavy "relief" on succession to his estate. The relief replaced the heriot. If there was a delay in proving heirship or paying relief, the lord would hold the land and receive its income in the meantime, often a year. If an heir was still a minor or female, he or she passed into his lord's wardship, in which the lord had guardianship of the heir and possession of the estate, with all its profits. The mother was not made a minor's guardian. No longer was the estate protected by the minor's kin as his birthright. A female heir was expected to marry a man acceptable to the lord. The estate of an heiress and her land was generally sold to the highest bidder. If there were no heirs, the land escheated [reverted] to the lord. If a tenant committed felony, his land escheated to his lord. The word "felony" came from the Latin word meaning "to deceive" and referred to the feudal crime of betraying or committing treachery against one's lord. Astrologers resided with the families of the barons. People went to fortune tellers' shops. There was horse racing, steeple races, and chess for recreation. Girls had dolls; boys had toy soldiers, spinning tops, toy horses, ships, and wooden models. The state of medicine is indicated by this medical advice brought to the nation by William's son after treatment on the continent: "If thou would have health and vigor Shun cares and avoid anger. Be temperate in eating And in the use of wine. After a heavy meal Rise and take the air Sleep not with an overloaded stomach And above all thou must Respond to Nature when she calls." The Conquerer allowed Jewish traders to follow him from Normandy and settle in separate sections of the main towns. Then engaged in long distance trade, money changing, and money lending. They loaned money for interest for the building of castles and cathedrals. Christians were not allowed by the church to engage in this usury. The Jews could not become citizens nor could they have standing in the local courts. Instead, a royal justiciar secured justice for them. They could practice their own religion. William the Conquerer was succeeded as king by his son William II (Rufus), who transgressed many of the customs of the nation to get more money for himself. He was killed by an arrow of a fellow hunter while they and William's younger brother Henry were hunting together in a crown forest. Henry then became king. The Law The notion of the king's peace extended until it was the normal and general safeguard of the public order. The Norman conquerors brought no code of written law. William's laws largely affirmed the laws of the nation as they were in the times of Edward I. These are substantially all of the laws of William I: All freemen shall swear an oath of loyalty to William I and shall uphold his lands and honors and defend them against enemies and aliens. William will protect them and exact no more than legally owed service. If a Frenchman summons an Englishman for perjury, murder, theft, homicide or open robbery, the Englishman shall defend himself by whichever method he prefers, either the ordeal of iron or trial by combat. The person defeated shall pay a fine to the king. If an Englishman summons a Frenchman and declines to prove the charge by ordeal or by combat, the Frenchman shall clear himself by a comprehensive oath. For a charge of outlawry, an Englishman shall clear himself by the ordeal of iron. When an Englishman brings a charge of outlawry against a Frenchman, the Frechman will defend himself by combat or by a comprehensive oath, at the choice of the Englishman. All the men whom I brought with me [Normans] or who come after me shall enjoy my protection. If any of them is slain, his lord shall arrest the slayer within five days, if he can. If not, he shall begin to pay me a "murdrum" fine of 46 marks of silver from the property of that lord as long as it lasts. If the property of the lord fails, the whole hundred in which the murder was committed shall pay in common what remains. All freemen shall be in a frankpledge, so that the frankpledge may bring him to justice, if he has committed an offense or the members of the frankpledge shall pay the claim unless clearing themselves of the charge of any knowledge of fraud by the runaway. The hundred and county courts shall be attended as before. Those who are required to appear shall be summoned once. Ad if they refuse to appear on the second summons, as ox [worth 30d.] shall be confiscated. And so for the third summons, another ox. And if they refuse the fourth summons, the "ceapgeld" [120s.] shall be paid and also the fine for insubordination. "Everyone who wishes to be admitted to the benefit of the law and to be qualified to obtain legal rights shall be in frankpledge." In Mercia, a surety has a month and a day to find an escaped person accused of larceny or robbery, or else shall swear with eleven compurgators that he had not known him to be a thief, that he was not accessory to his flight, and that he cannot find him. Then he shall pay for the stolen goods and 20s. in lieu of the head of the accused man and 4d. to the jailor, a farthing for the spade, and 40s. to the king. Every lord shall be personally responsible as surety for his servant so that, it an accusation is brought against him, he shall bring him for trial in the hundred court. And if he escapes while he is under the accusation, the lord shall pay his wergeld. And if the lord is accused of being an accessory to his flight, he shall clear himself with 5 compurgators, and if he cannot, he shall pay compensation to the king; and the man shall be an outlaw. All freemen shall keep themselves supplied with arms and horses or pay the full fine of insubordination. All earls, barons, knights, tenants by serjeanty and all free men shall be ready to perform their service defending me against enemies and aliens, by virtue of their fiefs, which are hereditary. Or pay the fine for insubordination. The heriot of an earl, which falls to the King, is 8 horses - 4 of them bridled and saddled - 4 coats of mail, 4 helmets, 4 shields, 4 lances and 4 swords. Of the other 4 horses, 2 shall be hunters and 2 riding horses with bridlos and halters. The heriot of a baron is 4 horses - 2 bridled and saddled - 2 coats of mail, 2 helmets, 2 shields, 2 swords and 2 lances. And of the other 2 horses, 1 shall be a hunter and 1 a riding horse with bridles and halters. The heriot of a thegn of lower rank to his liege lord shall be discharged by (delivering up) his father's horse, as it was in the day of his death, his helmet, his shield, his coat of mail, and lance and his sword. And if he was without equipment, having neither horse nor arms, it shall be discharged by the payment of 100 s. The heriot of a villain: he shall give to this lord the best animal that he has, either a horse, an ox, or a cow. And further all villeins shall be in frankpledge. For those who hold their land by the payment of rent, the legal heriot shall be the equivalent of a year's rent. No one shall entertain a man for more than 3 days, unless he is committed to this charge by the man with whom he was formerly serving. And no one shall let any of his men leave him after an accusation has All men shall keep the law of Edward relating to the tenure of estates. been brought against him. I prohibit the slaying or hanging of anyone for any offense, but his eyes shall be put out and he shall suffer castration, so the trunk remains alive as a sign of his treachery and wickedness. If a person violates this, he shall pay the insubordination fee. All cities, boroughs, castles, hundreds and wapentakes shall be guarded every night on all sides against malefactors and enemies, as our sheriffs, earldormen, reeves and other officials and servants best provide. The protection of the church is inviolable. Whatever crime a man has committed, if he can make his way to a holy church, he shall have protection for life and limb. And if anyone lays hands on him there, he shall pay for anything he has taken and a fine of 100s. for a bishop's church, abbey or monastery, 20s. for a parish church, and 10s. for a chapel. "If a man wishes to prove against his lord that he has an agreement for his land, he must do so by means of his fellow-tenants whom he summons as witnesses, for he cannot do so by means of strangers." If a man slays another he shall pay manbot to the lord of the slain man in the amount of 10s. for a free man and 20s. for a slave. The wergeld of a thegn is 20 pounds in Mercia and 25 pounds in Wessex. The wergeld of a villain is 100s. (20s. would buy a stallion, 10s. a bull and 5s. a boar.) 10s. of the wergeld shall be paid to the widow and children and the relatives and orphans shall divide what remains among themselves. The archbishop shall have as compensation for breach of his protection 40s. in Mercia, a bishop 20s., an earl 20s., a baron 10s.,and a sokeman 40d. If a man wounds another he shall pay for medical attendance and if he is wounded on the face, or a part which is visible, for every inch 8d., on the head or any hidden place, for every inch 4d., for every piece of bone drawn out of the wound 4d. If a man cuts off the hand or foot of another, he shall pay half his wergeld according to his inherited rank. For the thumb he shall pay half the value of his hand, for the finger next the thumb, 15s. according to the English reckoning (i.e. 4d. to the shilling), for the middle finger 16s., for the ring-finger 17s., for the little finger 5s., for the nail if it is cut away from the flesh, 5 English s., for the nail of the little finger 4d. "If a man poisons another, he shall be slain or sent into permanent exile." There is a 100s. fine for violation of the king's peace or attack on people's houses or for premeditated waylaying. If anyone slays or assaults anyone who is traveling through the country on any of the following four highways, namely, Watling Street, Ermine Street, the Fosse Way, the Icknied Way, he violates the king's peace. (Two of these streets extended the length of the kingdom and two extended across its width.) For the guarding of roads, every 10 hides of the hundred shall supply a man between Michaelmas and Martinmas, or pay compensation for any livestock taken over the road, unless they have raised the hue and cry of been subject to force. A peasant is not to be harassed or ejected except for not performing his legal services. A peasant leaving the estate where he was born must be returned to it. If a father finds his daughter in adultery in his own or in his son-in-laws house, he may slay the adulterer. The same holds for a son and his mother during the father's lifetime. "He who assaults the wife of another man shall forfeit his wergeld to his lord." "If anyone assaults a woman he shall suffer castration as a penalty." "If a woman who is pregnant is sentenced to death or to mutilation, the sentence shall not be carried out until she is delivered." If anyone knocks out a man's eye by any kind of accident, he shall pay 70 English shillings as compensation. And if he destroys the sight without displacing the pupil, he shall pay only half the sum. "If a man dies intestate [without a will], his children shall divide the inheritance equally among themselves." And if anyone comes upon a thief and of his own accord lets him escape, without raising the hue and cry, he shall make compensation by the payment of the thief's value or clear himself. "And if anyone hears the hue and cry and neglects it, he shall pay the fine for neglecting it to the king, or clear himself." If a man captures a thief without the hue and cry being given, the injured man shall pay 10s. as a fine for neglecting to arrest the thief. If theft is discovered on anyone's land and the thief is discovered, the lord of the estate and the thief's wife shall have half of his property and the claimants shall have their goods, if they find them. And with regard to the other half, if the theft is discovered in a district over which the lord has rights of jurisdiction, the wife shall lose her share and it shall pass to the lord. "Further, we forbid the buying or selling of any livestock except within towns and before three trustworthy witnesses, likewise that of any second-hand goods without a surety and warrantor." The penalty is twice the value of the goods and the fine for insubordination. No one shall buy anything of 4d. in value, either livestock or other property, unless he has 4 men as witnesses either from a town or a village. If anyone claims it and he has no witnesses and no warrantor, the goods shall be given up to the claimant and the fine shall be paid to the party who is entitled thereto. And if he has such witnesses, vouching to warranty shall take place three times; and on the fourth occasion he shall prove his ownership of it or deliver it up. If anyone has taken livestock into his care, whether horses or oxen or cows or sheep or pigs, the man who claims them shall pay 8d. and no more in return for the care of them, however many there are up to a hundred head of cattle. As for one pig, 1d, for one sheep, 1d., and so on up to 8d. And he shall give pledge and find surety, that if another man comes forward within a year and a day to claim them, he will bring it for decision to the court of the man who had taken them into his own care. Strayed livestock and found property shall be exhibited in three parts of the neighborhood. Anyone who claims it shall give pledge and surety and if another claims it within a year and a day, he will bring it for decision to the court of the man who found it. The attachment of livestock: If anyone desires to claim it as stolen, and is willing to give pledge and find surety for prosecuting his claim, he who has possession of it must name his warrantor if he has one. If not, he shall name his surety and his witnesses, and produce them at the appointed day and time, if he has them, and the claimant shall give a pledge with 5 compurgators, and the other shall give the livestock into the hands of his warrantor or his surety, whichever of these he has. And if he has neither but has witnesses that he bought it in the public market and that he does not know whether his warrantor or his pledge is dead or alive, he shall swear to this along with his witnesses with a simple oath. In this way he shall lose his goods, but escape punishment, if they bear witness that he obtained a surety for them. And, in Mercia, if he can produce neither warrantor nor witness, he shall lose the goods and pay in addition compensation to the claimant and forfeit is wergeld to his lord. And if he can prove that it is of his own breeding by means of witnesses drawn from three parts of his neighborhood he shall have won his case. There shall be no market or fair except in boroughs or castles or other enclosed or well-guarded places. Weights and measures shall be stamped and reliable as before. "Likewise if slaves have remained for a year and a day, without being claimed, in our cities or in our walled boroughs or in our castles, from that day they shall become free men." I forbid anyone to sell a Christian out of the country, especially into heathen lands, or pay the fine for insubordination to me. Anyone can set free a slave of his by presenting him to the sheriff in the county court and giving him the arms of a freeman, namely a lance and sword. If I cast your things overboard from a ship in fear of death, then you cannot bring a charge against me. The things that remained in the ship shall be divided in common according to the value of the goods originally belonging to each person. He who possesses livestock of the value of 30 d. shall pay Peter's If a man accuses another of theft and the latter is a free man and can produce witnesses to prove that he is entitled to the benefit of the law, he shall clear himself by the simple oath (of exculpation). And those who have been (previously) accused shall clear themselves by the oath with selected compurgators, that is by means of 14 qualified men nominated (by the court) of whom 11 must act as the accused man's compurgators to clear him of the charge, if he can find as many to do so. And if he cannot find them, he shall defend himself against the charge by the ordeal. And the plaintiff shall swear by means of 7 men nominated (by the court), of whom 5 must act as his compurgators, that he does nothing through malice or for any other reason than to obtain his legal right. And if anyone is accused of breaking into a church or a treasury, and has no previous convictions, he shall clear himself with 11 compurgators found among 14 qualified men nominated (by the court). And if he has been previously accused, he shall clear himself with three times as many, namely with 35 compurgators found among 42 qualified men nominated (by the court). And if he cannot find them, he shall go to the triple ordeal, just as he had (to produce) a triple oath. And if he has previously paid compensation for theft, he shall go to the water ordeal. He who gives a false judgment shall forfeit his wergeld to his lord, unless he can swear on the holy relics that he did not know how to give a better decision. No one shall be condemned to death for a trivial crime, but another penalty shall be devised according to the nature and magnitude of the crime. He who makes an unjust judgment because of rage, malice, or bribery forfeits 40s. to the king and loses his right of jurisdiction. A judgment given in a case between those concerned cannot affect injuriously others who are not present. He who refuses to observe just law and just judgment shall forfeit a fine to the party who is entitled thereto, the king 6 pounds, an earl 40s. and to all those who have a court in England. No one shall appeal to the king until he fails to obtain justice in the hundred or county courts. "When a man carries on a suit in any court other than that in which the king is present in person, and it is maintained against him that he has said something which he will not acknowledge - if he can prove by means of a trustworthy man, who has seen and heard all the suit, that he did not say it, then the validity of his word shall be admitted." "And if anyone who has charges brought against him in the hundred court to such an extent that 4 men accuse him, he shall clear himself with 11 compurgators." "No one shall make distraint of property whether in the county court or outside it, until he has demanded justice three times in the hundred or in the county courts." If the man against whom he is bringing his charge fails to appear the fourth time, he shall get leave to make distraint for what is his own. If anyone who is accused and against whom evidence of untrustworthiness is given fails three times to attend the court proceedings, and if, at the fourth meeting of the court, the summoners bring forward his three defections, he shall once more be asked to find a surety and appear before the court. And if he refuses, he shall be seized, alive or dead, and all that he has shall be taken, and the value of his goods shall be paid to the claimant, and the lord of the thief shall take half of what remains and the hundred half. One God shall be honored throughtout the kingdom. By charter, William granted to Londoners all the rights they had in the time of King Edward and willed that every child should be his father's heir. Judicial Procedure "Ecclesiastical" courts were created for bishops to preside over cases concerning the cure of souls and criminal cases, in which the ordeal was used. When the Conqueror did not preside over this court, an appeal could be made to him. The hundred and county courts now sat without clergy and handled only "civil" cases. They were conducted by the King's own appointed sheriff. Only freemen and not bound villeins had standing in this court. They continued to transact their business in the English language. The local jurisdictions of thegns who had grants of sac and soke or who exercised judicial functions among their free neighbors were now called "manors" and their owners conducted a manor court. The Conqueror's Royal Court ["Curia Regis">[ replaced the witan. It was composed of those to whom William had made grants of land on the understanding that they should perform certain feudal services to him. When the Conqueror wished to determine the national laws, he summoned twelve elected representatives of each county to declare on oath the ancient lawful customs and law as they existed in the time of the popular King Edward the Confessor. The recording of this law was begun. A person could spend months trying to catch up with the Royal Court to present a case. Sometimes the Conqueror sent the Justiciar or commissioners to hold his Royal Court in the various districts. The commissioner appointed groups of local men to give a collective verdict upon oath for each trial he conducted. The Conqueror allowed, on an ad hoc basis, certain high-level people such as bishops and abbots and those who made a large payment, to have land disputes decided by an inquiry of recognitors. Besides royal issues, the Royal Court heard appeals from lower court decisions. It used English, Norman, feudal, Roman, and canon law legal principles to reach a decision, and was flexible and expeditious. The powers of the shire court were lessened by the expanding authority of the Royal Court. Trial by combat could be used in two instances: 1) a dispute between a Frenchman and an Englishman over seisin of land initiated by a writ of right, or 2) a criminal appeal of felony brought by an Englishman or Frenchman against the other. Each combatant first swore to the truth of his cause and undertook to prove by his body the truth of his cause by making the other surrender by crying "craven" [craving forgiveness]. The combatants used weapons like pickaxes and shields. Presumably the man in the wrong would not fight as well because he was burdened with a guilty conscience. Although this trial was thought to reflect God's will, it favored the physically fit and adept person. After losing the trial by combat, the guilty person would be punished appropriately. London had its own traditions. All London citizens met at its folkmote, which was held three times a year to determine its public officers, to raise matters of public concern, and to make ordinances. Its criminal court had the power of outlawry as did the county courts. Trade, land, and other civil issues were dealt with by the Hustings Court, which met every Monday in the Guildhall. The city was divided into wards, each of which was under the charge of an elected alderman [elder man]. (The election was by a small governing body and the most wealthy and reputable men and not a popular election.) The aldermen had special knowledge of the law and a duty to declare it at the Hustings Court. Each alderman also conducted wardmotes in his ward and decided criminal and civil issues between its residents. Within the wards were the guilds of the city. King William I decided a lawsuit regarding land on the basis of testimony of the county thus: "William, by God's grace king of the English, to Bishop Walkelin, {Sheriff} Hugh de Port and his lieges of Hampshire, greeting. I notify you that I have restored to Archbishop Thomas of York one hide of land pertaining to the church of Mottisfont, as Archbishop Ealdred best had it at the time of King Edward, in meadows and wood and pasture and in common pasturage for as many animals as the maximum he could have there at the time of King Edward, as was testified before Bishop [William] of Durham and Bertram de Verdun and devised by the men of the county. Farewell. Witnesses: Bishop William of Durham and Bertram de Verdun." The Royal Court decided this case: "At length both parties were summoned before the King's court, in which there sat many of the nobles of the land of whom Geoffrey, bishop of Coutances, was delegated by the King's authority as judge of the dispute, with Ranulf the Vicomte, Neel, son of Neel, Robert de Usepont, and many other capable judges who diligently and fully examined the origin of the dispute, and delivered judgment that the mill ought to belong to St. Michael and his monks forever. The most victorious King William approved and confirmed this decision." The Times: 1100-1154 King Henry I, son of William the Conquerer, furthered peace between the Normans and native English by his marriage to a niece of King Edward the Confessor called Matilda. She married him on condition that he grant a charter of rights undoing some practices of the past reigns of William I and William II. Peace was also furthered by the fact that Henry I had been born in England and English was his native tongue. The private wars of lords were now replaced by less serious mock battles. Henry was a shrewd judge of character and of the course of events, cautious before taking action, but decisive in carrying out his plans. He was faithful and generous to his friends. He showed a strong practical element of calculation and foresight. Although illiterate, he was intelligent and a good administrator. He had an efficient intelligence gathering network and an uncanny knack of detecting hidden plans before they became conspiratorial action. He made many able men of inferior social position nobles, thus creating a class of career judges and administrators in opposition to the extant hereditary aristocracy. He loved books and built a palace at Oxford to which he invited scholars for lively discussion. Euclid's "Elements" ", which deduced from axioms the properties of lines, circles, and spheres, was introduced into England. Queen Matilda served as regent of the kingdom in Henry's absence, as William's queen had for him. Both queens received special coronation apart from their husbands; they held considerable estates which they administered through their own officers, and were frequently composed of escheated honors. Matilda was learned and a literary patron. She founded an important literary and scholastic center. Her compassion was great and her charities extensive. In London she founded several almshouses and a caregiving infirmary for lepers. These were next to small monastic communities. She also had new roads and bridges built. Henry issued charters restoring customs which had been subordinated to royal impositions by previous Kings, which set a precedent for later Kings. His coronation charter describes certain property rights he restored after the oppressive reign of his brother, William II. "Henry, King of the English, to Samson the bishop, and Urse of [1.] Know that by the mercy of God and by the common counsel of the barons of the whole kingdom of England I have been crowned king of this realm. And because the kingdom has been oppressed by unjust exactions, I now, being moved by reverence towards God and by the love I bear you all, make free the Church of God; so that I will neither sell nor lease its property; nor on the death of an archbishop or a bishop or an abbot will I take anything from the demesne of the Church or from its vassals during the period which elapses before a successor is installed. I abolish all the evil customs by which the kingdom of England has be unjustly oppressed. Some of those evil customs are here set forth. [2.] If any of my barons or of my earls or of any other of my tenants shall die his heir shall not redeem his land as he was wont to do in the time of my brother, but he shall henceforth redeem it by means of a just and lawful relief. Similarly the men of my barons shall redeem their lands from their lords by means of a just and lawful relief. [3.] If any of my barons or of my tenants shall wish to give -in marriage his daughter or his sister or his niece or his cousin, he shall consult me about the matter; but I will neither seek payment for my consent, nor will I refuse my permission, unless he wishes to give her in marriage to one of my enemies. And if, on the death of one of my barons or of one of my tenants, a daughter should be his heir, I will dispose of her in marriage and of her lands according to the counsel given me by my barons. And if the wife of one of my tenants shall survive her husband and be without children, she shall have her dower and her marriage portion [that given to her by her parents], and I will not give her in marriage unless she herself consents. [4.] If a widow survives with children under age, she shall have her dower and her marriage portion, so long as she keeps her body chaste; and I will not give her in marriage except with her consent. And the guardian of the land, and of the children, shall be either the widow or another of their relations, as may seem more proper. And I order that -my barons shall act likewise towards the sons and daughters -and widows of their men. [5.] I utterly forbid that the common mintage [6.] I forgive all pleas and all debts which were owing to my brother, except my own proper dues, and except those things which were agreed to belong to the inheritance of others, or to concern the property which justly belonged to others. And if anyone had promised anything for his heritage, I remit it, and I also remit all 'reliefs' which were promised for direct inheritance. [7.] If any of my barons or of my men, being ill, shall give away or bequeath his movable property, I will allow that it shall be bestowed according to his desires. But if, prevented either by violence or through sickness, he shall die intestate as far as concerns his movable property, his widow or his children, or his relatives or one his true men shall make such division for the sake of his soul, as may seem best to them. [8.] If any of my barons or of my men shall incur a forfeit, he shall not be compelled to pledge his movable property to an unlimited amount, as was done in the time of my father [William I] and my brother; but he shall only make payment -according to the extent of his legal forfeiture, as was done before the time of my father and in the time of my earlier predecessors. Nevertheless, if he be convicted of breach of faith or of crime, he shall suffer such penalty as is just. [9.] I remit all murder fines which were incurred before the day on which I was crowned King; and such murder fines as shall now be incurred shall be paid justly according to the law of King Edward [by sureties]. [10.] By the common counsel of my barons I have retained the forests in my own hands as my father did before me. [11.] The knights, who in return for their estates perform military service equipped with a hauberk [long coat] of mail, shall hold their demesne lands quit of all gelds [money payments] and all labor services; I make this concession as my own free gift in order that, being thus relieved of so great a burden, they may furnish themselves so well with horses and arms that they may be properly equipped to discharge my service and to defend my kingdom. [12.] I establish a firm peace in all my kingdom, and I order that this peace shall henceforth be kept. [13.] I restore to you the law of King Edward together with such emendations to it as my father [William I] made with the counsel of his barons. [14.] If since the death of my brother, King William [II], anyone shall have seized any of my property, or the property of any other man, let him speedily return the whole of it. If he does this no penalty will be exacted, but if he retains any part of it he shall, when discovered, pay a heavy penalty to me. Witness: Maurice, bishop of London; William, bishop-elect of At London when I was crowned. Farewell." Henry took these promises seriously, which resulted in peace and justice. Royal justice became a force to be reckoned with by the multiplication of justices. Henry had a great respect for legality and the forms of judicial action. He became known as the "Lion of Justice". The payment of queen's gold, that is of a mark of gold to the queen out of every hundred marks of silver paid, in the way of fine or other feudal incident, to the king, probably dates from Henry I's reign. A woman could inherit a fief if she married. The primary way for a man to acquire control of land was to marry an heiress. If a man were in a lower station than she was, he had to pay for his new social status as well as have royal permission. A man could also be awarded land which had escheated to the King. If a noble woman wanted to hold land in her own right, she had to make a payment to the King. Many widows bought their freedom from guardianship or remarriage from the King. Women whose husbands were at war also ran the land of their husbands. Barons were lords of large holdings of farmland called "manors". Many of the lesser barons left their dark castles to live in semi- fortified stone houses, which usually were of two rooms with rug hangings for drafts, as well as the sparse furniture that had been common to the castle. There were shuttered windows to allow in light, but which also let in the wind and rain when open. The roof was of thatch or narrow overlapping wood shingles. The stone floor was strewn with hay and there was a hearth near the center of the floor, with a louvered smoke hole in the timber roof for escape of smoke. There were barns for grain and animals. Beyond this area was a garden, orchard, and sometimes a vineyard. The area was circumscribed by a moat over which there was a drawbridge to a gatehouse. The smaller room was the lord and lady's bedroom. It had a canopied bed, chests for clothing, and wood frames on which clothes could be hung. Life on the manor revolved around the larger room, or hall, where the public life of the household was passed. There, meals were served. The daily diet typically consisted of milk, soup, porridge, fish, vegetables, and bread. Open hospitality accompanied this communal living. There was little privacy. Manor household villeins carried the lord's sheaves of grain to the manor barn, shore his sheep, malted his grain, and chopped wood for his fire. At night some slept on the floor of the hall. Others, who were cottars and bordars, had their own dwellings nearby. The manor house of lesser lords or knights was still built of wood, although it often had a stone foundation. About 35% of the land was arable land, about 25% was common pasture land (for grazing only) or meadow land (near a stream or river and used for hay or grazing), and about 15% was woodland. There were these types of land and wasteland on each manor. The arable land was allotted to the villeins in strips to equalize the best and worst land and their distance from the village where the villeins lived. There was three-way rotation of wheat or rye, oats or barley, and fallow land. Cows, pigs, sheep, and fowl were kept. The meadow was allocated for hay for the lord's household and each villein's. The villeins held land of their lord for various services such as agricultural labor or raising domestic animals. The villeins worked about half of their time on their lord's fields [his demesne land], which was about a third of the farmland. This work was primarily to gather the harvest and to plough with oxen, using a yoke over their shoulders, and to sow in autumn and Lent. They threshed grain on barn floors with flails cut from holly or thorn, and removed the kernels from the shafts by hand. Work lasted from sunrise to sunset and included women and children. The older children could herd geese and pigs, and set snares for rabbits. The young children could gather nuts and berries in season and other wild edibles, and could pick up little tufts of wool shed by sheep. The old could stay in the hut and mind the children, keep the fire going and the black pot boiling, sew, spin, patch clothes, and cobble shoes. The old often suffered from rheumatism. Many people had bronchitis. Many children died of croup [inflammation of the respiratory passages]. Life expectancy was probably below thirty-five. The villein retained his customary rights, his house and land and rights of wood and hay, and his right in the common land of his township. Customary ways were maintained. The villeins of a manor elected a reeve to communicate their interests to their lord, usually through a bailiff, who directed the labor. Sometimes there was a steward in charge of several of a lord's manors, who also held the manorial court for the lord. The steward held his land of the lord by petty serjeanty, which was a specific service to the lord. Other serjeanty services were carrying the lord's shield and arms, finding attendants and esquires for knights, helping in the lord's hunting expeditions, looking after his hounds, bringing fuel, doing carpentry, and forging irons for ploughs. The Woodward preserved the timber. The Messer supervised the harvesting. The Hayward removed any fences from the fields after harvest to allow grazing by cattle and sheep. The Coward, Bullard, and Calvert tended the cows, bulls, and calves; the Shepherd, the sheep; and the Swineherds the pigs. The Ponder impounded stray stock. There were varieties of horses: war horses, riding horses, courier horses, pack horses, and plough horses. The majority of manors were coextensive with a single village. The villeins lived in the village in one-room huts enclosed by a wood fence, hedge, or stone wall. In this yard was a garden of onions, leeks, mustard, peas, beans, parsley, garlic, herbs, and cabbage and apple, pear, cherry, quince, and plum trees, and beehives. The hut had a high-pitched roof thatched with reeds or straw and low eaves reaching almost to the ground. The walls are built of wood-framing overlaid with mud or plaster. Narrow slits in the walls serve as windows, which have shutters and are sometimes covered with coarse cloth. The floor is dirt and may be covered with straw or rushes for warmth, but usually no hearth. In the middle is a wood fire burning on a hearthstone, which was lit by making a spark by striking flint and iron together. The smoke rose through a hole in the roof. At one end of the hut was the family living area, where the family ate on a collapsible trestle table with stools or benches. Their usual food was beans and peas, oatmeal gruel, butter, cheese, vegetables, honey, rough bread made from a mixture of wheat, barley, and rye flour, herrings or other salt fish, and some salted or smoked bacon. Butter had first been used for cooking and as a medicine to cure constipation. For puny children it could be salted down for the winter. The bread had been roasted on the stones of the fire; later there were communal ovens set up in villages. Cooking was done over the fire by boiling in iron pots hung from an iron tripod, or sitting on the hot stones of the fire. They ate from wood bowls using a wood spoon. When they had fresh meat, it could be roasted on a spit. Liquids were heated in a kettle. With drinking horns, they drank water, milk, buttermilk, apple cider, mead, ale made from barley malt, and bean and vegetable broth. They used jars and other earthenware, e.g. for storage of salt. They slept on straw mattresses or sacks on the floor or on benches. The villein regarded his bed area as the safest place in the house, as did people of all ranks, and kept his treasures there, which included his farm implements, as well as hens on the beams, roaming pigs, and stalled oxen, cattle, and horses, which were at the other end of the hut. Fires were put out at night to guard against fire burning down the huts. The warmth of the animals then helped make the hut warm. Around the room are a couple of chests to store salt, meal, flour, a broom made of birch twigs, some woven baskets, the distaff and spindle for spinning, and a simple loom for weaving. All clothes were homemade. They were often coarse, greasy wool and leather made from their own animals. The man wore a tunic of coarse linen embroidered on the sleeves and breast, around with he wore a girdle of rope, leather, or folded cloth. Sometimes he also wore breeches reaching below the knee. The woman wore a loose short-sleeved gown, under which was a tight fitting garment with long loose sleeves, and which was short enough to be clear of the mud. If they wore shoes, they were clumsy and patched. Some wore a hood-like cap. For really bad weather, a man wore on his head a hood with a very elongated point which could be wrapped around his neck. Sometimes a short cape over the shoulders was attached. Linen was too expensive for commoners. The absence of fresh food during the winter made scurvy prevalent; in the spring, people eagerly sought "scurvy grass" to eat. Occasionally there would be an outbreak of a nervous disorder due to the ergot fungus growing in the rye used for bread. This manifested itself in apparent madness, frightening hallucinations, incoherent shouting, hysterical laughing, and constant scratching of itching and burning sensations. The villein and his wife and children worked from daybreak to dusk in the fields, except for Sundays and holydays. He had certain land to farm for his own family, but had to have his grain milled at his lord's mill at the lord's price. He had to retrieve his wandering cattle from his lord's pound at the lord's price. He was expected to give a certain portion of his own produce, whether grain or livestock, to his lord. However, if he fell short, he was not put off his land. The villein, who worked the farm land as his ancestor ceorl had, now was so bound to the land that he could not leave or marry or sell an ox without his lord's consent. If the manor was sold, the villein was sold as a part of the manor. When his daughter or son married or if he sent his son to school,he had to pay a "merchet" to his lord. He could not have a son educated without the lord's permission, and this usually involved a fee to the lord. His best beast at his death, or "heriot", went to his lord. If he wanted permission to live outside the manor, he paid "chevage" yearly. Woodpenny was a yearly payment for gathering dead wood. Sometimes a "tallage" payment was taken at the lord's will. The villein's oldest son usually took his place on his land and followed the same customs with respect to the lord. For an heir to take his dead ancestor's land, the lord demanded payment of a "relief", which was usually the amount of a year's income but sometimes as much as the heir was willing to pay to have the land. The usual aids were also expected to be paid. A large village also had a smith, a wheelwright, a millwright, a tiler and thatcher, a shoemaker and tanner, a carpenter wainwright and carter. Markets were about twenty miles apart because a farmer from the outlying area could then carry his produce to the nearest town and walk back again in the daylight hours of one day. In this local market he could buy foodstuffs, livestock, household goods, fuels, skins, and certain varieties of cloth. The cloth was crafted by local weavers, dyers, and fullers. The weaver lived in a cottage with few and narrow windows and little furniture. He worked in the main, and sometimes the only, room. First the raw wool was washed with water at the front door to remove the grease. Then its fibers were disentangled and made fine with hand cards with thistle teeth, usually by the children. Then it was spun by a spinning wheel into thread, usually by the wife. On a double frame loom, a set of parallel threads was strung lengthwise. A device worked by a pedal lifted half of these threads —every other thread—while the other half remained in place. Between the lifted threads and the stationary threads a shuttle was thrown by the weaver from one hand to another. Then the threads which had remained stationary were raised by a second pedal and the shuttle thrown back. The shuttle carried a spool so that, as it moved, it left a thread behind it running crosswise or at right angles to the lengthwise threads and in and out between them. The lengthwise threads were called the "warp"; the shuttle thread was the "woof" or the "weft".In making cloth, it was the warp which, as the loom moved, took the worst beating. With the constant raising and lowering, these treads would wear and break, whereas the weft on which there was little strain remained intact. None of the cotton yarn which the old-fashioned wheels had spun was strong enough for warp. So it was necessary to use linen thread for the warp. Since one loom could provide work for about six spinners, the weaver had his wool spun by other spinners in their cottages. Sometimes the master weaver had an apprentice or workman working and living with him, who had free board and lodging and an annual wage. Then a fuller made the cloth thick and dense by washing, soaping, beating, and agitating it, with the use of a community watermill which could be used by anyone for a fixed payment. The cloth dried through the night on a rack outside the cottage. The weaver then took his cloth, usually only one piece, to the weekly market to sell. The weavers stood at the market holding up their cloth. The cloth merchant who bought the cloth then had it dyed or dressed according to his requirements. Its surface could be raised with teazleheads and cropped or sheared to make a nap. Some cloth was sold to tailors to make into clothes. Often a weaver had a horse for travel, a cow for milk, chickens for eggs, perhaps a few cattle, and some grazing land. Butchers bought, slaughtered, and cut up animals to sell as meat. Some was sold to cooks, who sold prepared foods. The hide was bought by the tanner to make into leather. The leather was sold to shoemakers and glovemakers. Millers bought harvested grain to make into flour. Flour was sold to bakers to make into breads. Wood was bought by carpenters and by coopers, who made barrels, buckets, tubs, and pails. Tilers, oilmakers and rope makers also bought raw material to make into finished goods for sale. Wheelwrights made ploughs, harrows, carts, and later wagons. Smiths and locksmiths worked over their hot fires. Games with dice were sometimes played. In winter, youths ice- skated with bones fastened to their shoes. They propelled themselves by striking the ice with staves shod with iron. On summer holydays, they exercised in leaping, shooting with the bow, wrestling, throwing stones, and darting a thrown spear. The maidens danced with timbrels. Since at least 1133, children's toys included dolls, drums, hobby horses, pop guns, trumpets, and kites. The cold, indoors as well as outdoors, necessitated that people wear ample and warm garments. Men and women of position dressed in long full cloaks reaching to their feet, sometimes having short full sleeves. The cloak generally had a hood and was fastened at the neck with a brooch. Underneath the cloak was a simple gown with sleeves tight at the wrist but full at the armhole, as if cut from the same piece of cloth. A girdle or belt was worn at the waist. When the men were hunting or working, they wore gown and cloak of knee length. Men wore stockings to the knee and shoes. The fashion of long hair on men returned. The nation grew with the increase of population, the development of towns, and the growing mechanization of craft industries. There were watermills for crafts and for supplying and draining water in all parts of the nation. In flat areas, slow rivers could be supplemented by creating artificial waterfalls, for which water was raised to the level of reservoirs. There were also some iron- smelting furnaces. Coal mining underground began as a family enterprise. Stone bridges over rivers could accommodate one person traveling by foot or by horseback and were steep and narrow. The wheelbarrow came into use to cart materials for building castles and cathedrals. Merchants, who had come from the low end of the knightly class or high end of the villein class, settled around the open market areas, where main roads joined. They had plots narrow in frontage along the road and deep. Their shops faced the road, with living space behind or above their stores. Town buildings were typically part stone and part timber as a compromise between fire precautions and expense. Towns, as distinct from villages, had permanent markets. As towns grew, some became boroughs by paying a fee to obtain a charter for self-government from the king giving the town judicial and commercial freedom. They were literate enough to do accounts. So they did their own valuation of the sum due to the crown so as not to pay the sheriff any more than that. These various rights were typically expanded in future times, and the towns received authority to collect the sum due to the crown rather than the sheriff. This they did by obtaining a charter renting the town to the burgesses at a fee farm rent equal to the sum thus deducted from the amount due from the county. The freemen were "free of the borough", which meant they had exclusive rights and privileges with respect to it. Selling wholesale could take place only in a borough. Burgesses were free to marry. They were not subject to defense except of the borough. They were exempt from attendance at county and hundred courts. The king assessed a tallage [ad hoc tax] usually at ten per cent of property or income. In the boroughs, merchant and manufacturing guilds controlled prices and assured quality. The head officer of the guild usually controlled the borough, which excluded rival merchant guilds. A man might belong to more than one guild, e.g. one for his trade and another for religion. The frankpledge system prevailed in the boroughs. Craft guilds grew up in the towns, such as the tanners at Oxford, which later merged with the shoemakers into a cordwainers' guild. There were weavers' guilds in several towns, including London, which were given royal sanction and protection for annual payments (twelve pounds of silver for London). They paid an annual tribute and were given a monopoly of weaving cloth within a radius of several miles. Guild rules covered attendance of the members at church services, the promotion of pilgrimages, celebration of masses for the dead, common meals, relief of poor brethren and sisters, the hours of labor, the process of manufacture, the wages of workmen, and technical education. King Henry standardized the yard as the length of his own arm. Trades and crafts, each of which had to be licensed, grouped together by specialty in the town. Cloth makers, dyers, tanners, and fullers were near an accessible supply of running water, upon which their trade depended. Streets were often named by the trade located there, such as Butcher Row, Pot Row, Cordwainer Row, Ironmonger Row, Wheeler Row, and Fish Row. Hirers of labor and sellers of wheat, hay, livestock, dairy products, apples and wine, meat, poultry, fish and pies, timber and cloth all had a distinct location. Some young men were apprenticed to craftsmen to assist them and learn their craft. London had bought the right to have an elected mayor. The Norman word "mayor" replaced "portreeve". Henry I granted the Londoners the right to elect a sheriff and a justiciar from among themselves. London had at least twenty wards, each governed by its own alderman. Most of them were named after people. London was ruled by sixteen families linked by business and marriage ties. These businesses supplied luxury goods to the rich and included the goldsmiths [sold cups, dishes, girdles, mirrors, purses knives, and metal wine containers with handle and spout], vintners [wine merchants], mercers [sold textiles, haberdashery, combs, mirrors, knives, toys, spices, ointments, and potions], drapers, and pepperers, which later merged with the spicers to become the "grocers", skinners, tanners, shoemakers, woolmen, weavers, fishmongers, armorers, and swordsmiths. There were bakehouses at which one could leave raw joints of meat to be cooked and picked up later. These businesses had in common four fears: royal interference, foreign competition, displacement by new crafts, and violence by the poor and escaped villeins who found their way to the city. When a non-freeholder stayed in London he had to find for frankpledge, three sureties for good behavior. Failure to do so was a felony and the ward would eject him to avoid the charge of harboring him with its heavy fine. The arrival of ships with cargoes from continental ports and their departure with English exports was the regular waterside life below London Bridge. Many foreign merchants lived in London. Imports included timber, hemp, fish, and furs. There was a fraternal organization of citizens who had possessed their own lands with sac and soke and other customs in the days of King Edward. There were public bathhouses, but they were disreputable. A lady would take an occasional bath in a half cask in her home. The church warned of evils of exposing the flesh, even to bathe. Middlesex County was London's territory for hunting and farming. All London craft work was suspended for one month at harvest time. London received this charter for self-government and freedom from the financial and judicial organization of the county: "Henry, by the grace of God, King of England, to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the bishops, abbots, earls, barons, justiciars, sheriffs and all his loyal subjects, both French and English, throughout the whole of England - greeting. 1. -Be it known to you that I have granted Middlesex to my citizens of London to be held on lease by them and their heirs of me and my heirs for 300 pounds paid by tale [yearly], upon these terms: that the citizens themselves [may] appoint a sheriff, such as they desire, from among themselves, and a justiciar, such as they desire, from among themselves, to safeguard the pleas of my Crown [criminal cases] and to conduct such pleas. And there shall be no other justiciar over the men of London. 2. -And the citizens shall not take part in any [civil] case whatsoever outside the City walls. - -1) And they shall be exempt from the payment of scot and danegeld and the murder fine. - -2) And none of them shall take part in trial by combat. - -3) And if any of the citizens has become involved in a plea of the Crown, he shall clear himself, as a citizen of London, by an oath which has been decreed in the city. - -4) And no one shall be billeted [lodged in a person's house by order of the King] within the walls of the city nor shall hospitality be forcibly exacted for anyone belonging to my household or to any other. - -5) And all the citizens of London and all their effect [goods] shall be exempt and free, both throughout England and in the seaports, from toll and fees for transit and market fees and all other dues. - -6) And the churches and barons and citizens shall have and hold in peace and security their rights of jurisdiction [in civil and criminal matters] along with all their dues, in such a way that lessees who occupy property in districts under private jurisdiction shall pay dues to no one except the man to whom the jurisdiction belongs, or to the official whom he has placed there. - -7) And a citizen of London shall not be amerced [fined by a court when the penalty for an offense is not designated by statute] to forfeiture of a sum greater than his wergeld, [hereby assessed as] 100 shillings, in a case involving money. - -8) And further there shall be no miskenning [false plea causing a person to be summoned to court] in a husting [weekly court] or in a folkmote [meeting of the community], or in any other court within the City. - -9) And the Hustings [court] shall sit once a week on Monday. - -10) And I assure to my citizens their lands and the property mortgaged to them and the debts due to them both within the City and without. - -11) And with regard to lands about which they have pled in suit before me, I shall maintain justice on their behalf, according to the law of the City. - -12) And if anyone has exacted toll or tax from citizens of London, the citizens of London within the city shall [have the right to] seize [by process of law] from the town or village where the toll or tax was exacted a sum equivalent to that which the citizen of London gave as toll and hence sustained as loss. - -13) And all those who owe debts to citizens shall pay them or shall clear themselves in London from the charge of being in debt to them. - -14) But if they have refused to pay or to come to clear themselves, then the citizens to whom they are in debt shall [have the right to] seize [by process of law] their goods [including those in the hands of a third party, and bring them] into the city from the [town, village or] county in which the debtor lives [as pledges to compel appearance in court]. - -15) And the citizens shall enjoy as good and full hunting rights as their ancestors ever did, namely, in the Chilterns, in Middlesex, and in Surrey. Witnessed at Westminster." The above right not to take part in any case outside the city relieved London citizens from the burden of traveling to wherever the King's court happened to be, the disadvantage of not knowing local customs, and the difficulty of speaking in the language of the King's court rather than in English. The right of redress for tolls exacted was new because the state of the law was that the property of the inhabitants was liable to the king or superior lord for the common debt. Newcastle-on-Tyne was recognized by the king as having certain "These are the laws and customs which the burgesses of Newcastle upon [1] -Burgesses can distrain [take property of another until the other performs his obligation] upon foreigners within, or without their own market, within or without their own houses, and within or without their own borough without the leave of the reeve, unless the county court is being held in the borough, and unless [the foreigners are] on military service or guarding the castle. [2] -A burgess cannot distrain upon a burgess without the leave of the reeve. [3] -If a burgess have lent anything of his to a foreigner, let the debtor restore it in the borough if he admits the debt, if he denies it, let him justify himself in the borough. [4] -Pleas which arise in the borough shall be held and -concluded there, except pleas of the Crown. [5] -If any burgess be appealed [sued] of any plaint, he shall not plead without the borough, unless for default of [the borough] court. [6] -Nor ought he to answer without day and term, unless he have fallen into 'miskenning' [error in pleading], except in matters which pertain to the Crown. [7] -If a ship have put in at Tynemouth and wishes to depart, the burgesses may buy what they will [from it]. [8] -If a plea arise between a burgess and a merchant, it shall be concluded before the third ebb of the tide. [9] -Whatever merchandise a ship has brought by sea must be landed, except salt; and herring ought to be sold in the ship. [10] If any man have held land in burgage for a year and a day, lawfully and without claim, he shall not answer a claimant, unless the claimant have been without the realm of - - -England, or a child not of age to plead. [11] If a burgess have a son, he shall be included in his father's freedom if he be with his father. [12] If a villein come to dwell in the borough, and dwell there a year and a day as a burgess, he shall abide altogether, unless notice has been given by him or by his master that he is dwelling for a term. [13] If any man appeal [sue] a burgess of any thing, he cannot do [trial by] battle with the burgess, but the burgess shall defend himself by his law, unless it be of treason, whereof he is bound to defend himself by [trial by] battle. [14] Neither can a burgess do [trial by] battle against a foreigner, unless he first go out of the borough. [15] No merchant, unless he be a burgess, may buy [outside] the town either wool or leather or other merchandise, nor within the borough except [from] burgesses. [16] If a burgess incur forfeit, he shall give six ounces [10s.] to the reeve. [17] In the borough there is no merchet [payment for marrying off a daughter] nor heriot nor bloodwite [fine for drawing blood] nor stengesdint [fine for striking with a stick]. [18] Every burgess may have his own oven and handmill if he will, saving the right of the King's oven. [19] If a woman be in forfeit for bread or beer, no one ought to interfere but the reeve. If she forfeit twice, she shall be chastised by her forfeit. If three times, let justice be done on her. [20] No one but a burgess may buy webs [woven fabrics just taken off the loom] to dye, nor make nor cut them. [21] A burgess may give and sell his land and go whither he will freely and quietly unless there be a claim against him." The nation produced sufficient iron, but a primitive steel [iron with carbon added] was imported. It was scarce and expensive. Steel was used for tools, instruments, weapons and armor. Ships could carry about 300 people. Navigation was by simple charts that included wind direction for different seasons and the direction of north. The direction of the ship could be generally determined when the sky was clear by the position of the sun during the day or the north star during the night. Plays about miracles wrought by holy men or saints or the sufferings and fortitude of martyrs were performed, usually at the great church festivals. Most nobles could read, though writing was still a specialized craft. There were books on animals, plants, and stones. The lives of the saints as told in the book "The Golden Legend" were popular. The story of the early King Arthur was told in the book "The History of the Kings of England". The story at this time stressed Arthur as a hero and went as follows: Arthur became king at age 15. He had an inborn goodness and generosity as well as courage. He and his knights won battles against foreign settlers and neighboring clans. Once, he and his men surrounded a camp of foreigners until they gave up their gold and silver rather than starve. Arthur married Guenevere and established a court and retinue. Leaving Britain in the charge of his nephew Modred, he fought battles on the continent for land to give to his noblemen who did him service in his household and fought with him. When Arthur returned to Britain, he made battle with his nephew Modred who had crowned himself King. Arthur's knight Gawain, the son of his sister, and the enemy Modred were killed and Arthur was severely wounded. Arthur told his kinsman Constantine to rule Britain as king in his place. The intellectual world included art, secular literature, law, and medicine. There were about 90 physicians. The center of government was a collection of tenants-in-chief, whose feudal duty included attendance when summoned, and certain selected household servants of the King. The Exchequer became a separate body. The payments in kind, such as grain or manual services, from the royal demesnes had been turned into money payments. The great barons made their payments directly to the Exchequer. The income from royal estates was received by the Exchequer and then commingled with the other funds. Each payment was indicated by notches on a stick, which was then split so that the payer and the receiver each had a half showing the notches. The Exchequer was the great school for training statesmen, justices, and bishops. The Chancellor managed the domestic matters of the Crown's castles and lands. The great offices of state were sold for thousands of pounds, which caused their holders to be on their best behavior for fear of losing their money by being discharged from office. One chancellor paid Henry about 3000 pounds for the office. Henry brought sheriffs under his strict control, free from influence by the barons. He maintained order with a strong hand, but was no more severe than his security demanded. Forests were still retained by Kings for their hunting of boars and stags. A master forester maintained them. The boundaries of the Royal Forests were enlarged. They comprised almost one-third of the kingdom. Certain inhabitants thereof supplied the royal foresters with meat and drink and received certain easements and rights of common therein. The forest law reached the extreme of severity and cruelty under Henry I. Punishments given included blinding, emasculation, and execution. Offenders were rarely allowed to substitute a money payment. When fines were imposed they were heavy. A substantial number of barons and monasteries were heavily in debt to the Jews. The interest rate was 43% (2d. per pound per week). The king taxed the Jews at will. The Law Henry restored the death penalty (by hanging) for theft and robbery, but maintained William I's punishment of mutilation by blinding and severing of limbs for other offenses, for example, bad money. He decreed in 1108 that false and bad money should be amended, so that he who was caught passing bad denarii should not escape by redeeming himself but should lose his eyes and members. And since denarii were often picked out, bent, broken, and refused, he decreed that no denarius or obol, which he said were to be round, or even a quadrans, if it were whole, should be refused. (Money then reached a higher level of perfection, which was maintained for the next century.) Counterfeiting law required that "If any one be caught carrying false coin, the reeve shall give the bad money to the King however much there is, and it shall be charged in the render of his farm [payment] as good, and the body of the offender shall be handed over to the King for judgment, and the serjeants who took him shall have his clothes." The forest law stated that: "he that doth hunt a wild beast and doth make him pant, shall pay 10 shillings: If he be a freeman, then he shall pay double. If he be a bound man, he shall lose his skin." A "verderer" was responsible for enforcing this law, which also stated that: "If anyone does offer force to a Verderer, if he be a freeman, he shall lose his freedom, and all that he hath. And if he be a villein, he shall lose his right hand." Further, "If such an offender does offend so again, he shall lose his life." A wife's dower is one-third of all her husband's freehold land, unless his endowment of her at their marriage was less than one- third. Debts to townsmen were recoverable by this law: "If a burgess has a gage Past due rent in a borough was punishable by payment of 10s. as fine. Judicial activity encouraged the recording of royal legislation in writing which both looked to the past and attempted to set down law current in Henry's own day in the Leges Henrici Primi. This showed an awareness of the ideal of written law as a statement of judicial principles as well as of the practice of kingship. In this way, concepts of Roman law used by the Normans found their way into English law. The laws of Henry I in the Leges Henrici Primi have as subjects judicial procedure, proper judging, conduct of people involved in litigation, litigation procedure, required witnesses, evidence, credibility, quotes from legal references, oaths, perjury, geographical divisions of England, court sessions and attendance, order of court proceedings, adjournments, frankpledge, strangers, types of causes and their manner of hearing, royal jurisdiction, ecclesiastical pleas of the king, offenses, compensations, penalties, reliefs, the king's peace, forest pleas, exculpation, soke, jurisdiction of royal judges, the king's judges, summons, oathhelpers, transfer of cases, trials of pleas, unjust judgments, sureties, lords who sue, accusations, court procedure, pleadings, postponements, record of proceedings, failure to appear, counsel, summoning the hundred, summoning the county court, distraints, partners of common property, rights of jurisdiction of a lord over his man, holdings in farm, disputes between neighbors, trial by battle, slaves, pleas between a lord's reeve and those who are subject to him, suits by royal judges, wergelds, murdrum fine, letting go of a thief, slaying of or by a cleric, confessions, men of ill repute, ordeals, compensations, bondmen, intent, inheritance, dowries, homicide by magicians, definition of homicide, killing one's lord, foreigners, debtors, illegitimacy, foundlings, the king's peace, homicide in the king's court, royal highways, self-defense, drinking assemblies, mutual enemies, leading into wrong-doing, lent arms, marauders, weapons, killing a relative, pledge, negligence, and wounds to body parts. A sampling of the laws of Henry I follows: "These are the jurisdictional rights which the king of England has in his land solely and over all men, reserved through a proper ordering of peace and security: breach of the king's peace given by his hand or writ; Danegeld; the pleas of contempt of his writs or commands; the death or injury of his servants wherever occurring; breach of fealty and treason; any contempt or slander of him; fortifications consisting of three walls; outlawry; theft punishable by death; murdrum; counterfeiting his coinage; arson; hamsocn [breach of the right of security and privacy in a man's house by forcible entry into it]; forestel [attacking an enemy unexpectedly or lying in wait for him on the road and attacking him] passenger on the king's highway]; fyrding [action regarding the military array or land force of the whole country]; flymenfyrm [the reception or relief of a fugitive or outlaw]; premeditated assault; robbery; stretbreche [destroying a road by closing it off or diverting it or digging it up]; unlawful appropriation of the king's land or money; treasure-trove; wreck of the sea; things cast up by the sea; rape; abduction; forests; the reliefs of barons; fighting in the king's dwelling or household; breach of the peace in the king's troop; failure to perform burgbot Judicial Procedure Courts extant now are the Royal Court, the King's Court of the Exchequer, county courts, and hundred courts, all of which were under the control of the King. His appointed justices administered justice in these courts on regular circuits. Instead of being the presiding official at the county court, the sheriff now only produced the proper people and preserved order at the county courts and presided over the nonroyal pleas and hundred courts. He impaneled recognitors, made arrests, and enforced the decisions of the royal courts. Also there are manor courts, borough courts, and ecclesiastical courts. In the manor courts, the lord's reeve generally presided. The court consisted of the lord's vassals and declared the customs and law concerning such offenses as failure to perform services and trespass on manorial woods, meadow, and pasture. The King's Royal Court heard issues concerning the Crown and breaches of the King's peace, which included almost all criminal matters: murder, robbery, rape, abduction, arson, treason, breach of fealty, housebreaking, ambush, certain kinds of theft, premeditated assault, and harboring outlaws or excommunicants. Henry personally presided over hearings of important legal cases. He punished crime severely. He hanged homicides, exiled traitors, and frequenly used loss of hand and foot. In comparison, William had no one hanged, but used emasculation and exoculation frequently. Offenders were brought to justice not only by the complaint of an individual or local community action, but by official prosecutors. A prosecutor was now at trials as well as a justice. Trial is still mostly by compurgation but trial by combat was relatively common. These offenses against the king placed merely personal property and sometimes land at the king's mercy. Thus the Crown increased the range of offenses subject to its jurisdiction and arrogated to itself profits from the penalties imposed. The death penalty could be imposed for murder and replaced the old wergeld. But a murderer could be given royal pardon from the death penalty so that he could pay compensation to the relatives. The Royal Court also heard these offenses against the king: fighting in his dwelling, contempt of his writs or commands, encompassing the death or injury of his servants, contempt or slander of the King, and violation of his protection or his law. It heard these offenses against royal authority: complaints of default of justice or unjust judgment, pleas of shipwrecks, coinage, treasure trove [money buried when danger approached], forest prerogatives, and control of castle building. Slander of the king, the government, or high officials was punishable as treason, felony, misprision of treason, or contempt, depending on the rank and office of the person slandered and the degree of guilt. Henry began the use of writs to intervene in civil matters such as inquiry by oath and recognition of rights as to land, the obligations of tenure, the legitimacy of heirs, and the enforcement of local justice. Writs were requested by people who wanted to come to the Royal Court. The Royal Court used its superior coercive power to enforce the legal decisions of the county, hundred, and private courts. It also reviewed miscarriages of justice and unlawful procedures in these courts. There was a vigorous interventionism in the land law subsequent to appeals to the king in landlord-tenant relations, brought by a lord or by an undertenant. Assizes [those who sit together] of local people who knew relevant facts were put together to assist the court. Henry appointed some locally based justices. Also, he sent justices from the Royal Court out on eyres [journeys] to hold assizes. This was done at special sessions of the county courts, hundred courts, and manor courts. Records of the verdicts of the Royal Court were sent with these itinerant justices for use as precedent in these courts. Thus royal authority was brought into the localities and served to check baronial power over the common people. These itinerant justices also transacted the local business of the Exchequer in each county. Henry created the office of Chief Justiciar, which carried out judicial and administrative functions and could travel anywhere in the country and make legal decisions in the king's name. The Royal Court retained cases of gaol delivery [arrested person who had been held in gaol was delivered to the court] and amercements [discretionary money payments which took the place of the old wites]. It also decided cases in which the powers of the popular courts had been exhausted or had failed to do justice. The Royal Court also decided land disputes between barons who were too strong to submit to the county courts. The King's Court of the Exchequer reviewed the accounts of sheriffs, including receipts and expenditures on the Crown's behalf as well as sums due to the Treasury, located still at Winchester. These sums included rent from royal estates, the Danegeld land tax, the fines from local courts, and aid from baronial estates. Its records were the "Pipe Rolls", so named because sheets of parchment were fastened at the top, each of which dropped into a roll at the bottom and so assumed the shape of a pipe. The county and hundred courts assessed the personal property of individuals and their taxes due to the King. The county court decided land disputes between people who had different barons as their respective lords. The free landholders were expected to attend county, hundred, and manor courts. They owed "suit" to it. The suitors found the dooms [laws] by which the presiding officer pronounced the sentence. The county courts heard cases of theft, brawling, beating, and wounding, for which the penalties could be exposure in the pillory or stocks. The pillory held an offender's head and hands in holes in boards, and the stocks held one's hands and feet. Here the public could scorn and hit the offender or throw fruit, mud, and dead cats at him. For sex offenders and informers, stones were usually thrown. Sometimes a person was stoned to death. Damages in money replaced the old bots. The county courts met twice yearly. If an accused failed to appear after four successive county courts, he was declared outlaw at the fifth and forfeited his civil rights and all his property. He could be slain by anyone at will. The hundred court met once a month to hear neighborhood disputes, for instance concerning pastures, meadows and harvests. Usually present was a priest, the reeve, four representative men, and sometimes the lord or his steward in his place. Sometimes the chief pledges were present to represent all the men in their respective frankpledges. The bailiff presided over all these sessions except two, in which the sheriff presided over the full hundred court to take the view of frankpledge, which was required for those who did not have a lord to answer for him. The barons held court on their manors at a "hallmote" for issues arising between people living on the manor, such as bad ploughing on the lord's land or letting a cow get loose on the lord's land, and land disputes. This court also made the decision of whether a certain person was a villein or freeman. The manor court took over issues which had once been heard in the vill or hundred court. The baron charged a fee for hearing a case and received any fines he imposed, which amounted to significant "profits of justice". Boroughs held court on trading and marketing issues in their towns such as measures and weights, as well as issues between people who lived in the borough. The borough court was presided over by a reeve who was a burgess as well as a royal official. Wealthy men could employ professional pleader-attorneys to advise them and to speak for them in a court. The ecclesiastical courts, until the time when Henry VIII took over the church, dealt with family matters such as marriage, annulments, marriage portions and settlements of money or goods, legitimacy, undue wifebeating, child abuse, orphans, bigamy, adultery, incest, fornication, and separations between husband and wife. There were no divorces. They also dealt during this time with drunkenness, personal possessions, defamation, slander which did not cause material loss (and therefore had no remedy in the temporal courts), libel, perjury, usury, mortuaries [the second best beast or fees at death], sacrilege, sorcery, witchcraft, blasphemy [speaking ill of God], heresy They decided inheritance and will issues which did not concern land, but only personal property. This developed from the practice of a priest usually hearing a dying person's will as to the disposition of his goods and chattel when he made his last confession. So the church court came to determine the validity of wills, interpret them, regulate their created testamentary executors, and determine the legatees. It also came to determine intestate matters. It provided guardianship of infants during probate of their personal property. Trial was first by compurgation, with oath-helpers swearing to or against the veracity of the alleged offender's oath. The ecclesiastical court's penalties were intended to reform and determined on a case-by-case basis. The canon law of Christendom was followed, without much change by the English church or nation. A penitent who was sincerely contrite was first expected to confess his sin to a priest, who gave him God's forgiveness. This removed the guilt of the sin and eternal punishment in hell. But then justice required a "satisfaction", which could be met in this world or in the next. Accordingly, the priest or ecclesiastical court then imposed a "penance", i.e. some act of a religious nature. Penance could include confession and public repentance of the sin before the parish, making apologies and reparation to persons affected, public embarrassment such as being dunked in water (e.g. for women scolds), walking a route barefoot and clad only in one's underwear, whippings, extra work, fasting, vigils, prayers for help to live righteously, reading, meditation, solitary life, a diet of bread and water for a specified time, fines, gifts to the church, alms to the poor, various kinds of good deeds, and imprisonment in a "penitentiary". For more serious sins, there could be a long fast, a diet of bread and water for a number of years, or a distant pilgrimage, for instance to Rome or Jerusalem. For those whose penance was incomplete at the time of their death, there was a temporary state of purgatory wherein some sort of suffering fulflled the remaining debt. Souls in purgatory could be aided by the prayers of the faithful on earth. The truly penitent could hope for the remission of all or part of their purgation by obtaining an indulgence from a higher authority than the priest. The ultimate penalty of the church was excommunication, a social ostracism in which no one could give the person drink, food, or shelter and he could speak only to his spouse and servants. Excommunication included denial of the sacraments of baptism, penance, mass [lord's supper}, and extreme unction [prayers for spiritual healing] at death; which were necessary for salvation of the soul; and the sacrament of confirmation. A person could also be denied a Christian burial in consecrated ground. However, the person could still marry and make a will. The purpose of excommunication was to restore the person to spiritual health rather than to punish him. Excommunication was usually imposed for failure to obey an order or for showing contempt of the law or of the courts. It required a hearing and a written reason. The king's court could order a recalcitrant excommunicant imprisoned until he satisfied the claims of the church. If this measure failed, it was possible to turn the offender over to the state for punishment, e.g. for blasphemy or heresy. Blasphemy was thought to cause God's wrath expressed in famine, pestilence, and earthquake and was usually punished by a fine or corporal punishment, e.g. perforation or amputation of the tongue. It was tacitly understood that the punishment for heresy was death by burning. There were no heresy cases up to 1400 and few after that. The state usually assured itself the sentence was just before imposing it. The court of the rural dean was the ecclesiastical parallel of the hundred court of secular jurisdiction and usually had the same land boundaries. The archdeacons, who had been ministers of the bishop in all parts of his diocese alike, were now each assigned to one district, which usually had the same boundaries as the county. Each bishop headed a diocese. Over the bishops were the two Archbishops of Canterbury and of York. The ecclesiastical court had one judge and no jury. Most cases dealt with offenses against the church, such as working on Sunday, and sexual mores. The court used teatimony and depositions of witnesses, oaths of the parties, confessions, physical and written evidence, presumptions of common knowledge, and inquests of impartial, sworn men who made unanimous determinations. The accuser had to meet the burden of proof. The accused could be required to answer questions under oath, thus giving evidence against himself. It was not necessary to have an accuser; a judge could open a case based on public rumor. The judge made a written decision that did not incude his reasoning. He read the decision aloud in a public session of the court. If an accused disobeyed a court order to appear or to do penance, he could be excommunicated. Common law held that ecclesiastical courts could not give money damages. But costs were paid by the loser and included expenses of producing witnesses, writing of documents, and fees of lawyers. An appeal could be made from the archdeacon to the bishop to the metropolitan to the Pope. Henry acknowledged occasional appellate authority of the pope, but expected his clergy to elect bishops of his choice. There was a separate judicial system for the laws of the forest. There were itinerant justices of the forests and four verderers of each forest county, who were elected by the votes of the full county court, twelve knights appointed to keep vert [everything bearing green leaves] and venison, and foresters of the king and of the lords who had lands within the limits of the forests. Every three years, the officers visited the forests in preparation for the courts of the forest held by the itinerant justices. The inferior courts were the woodmote, held every forty days, and the swein [freeman or freeholder within the forest] mote, held three times yearly before the verderers as justices, in which all who were obliged to attend as suitors of the county court to serve on juries and inquests were to be present. In this lawsuit, King Henry I decided that since the abbots and monks of Battle had proved before him that certain lands, belonging to the manor of Alciston, are no possession of theirs, so they are to be quit of the services due there: " Henry, king of the English, to Ralph, bishop of Chichester, and all his ministers of Sussex, greeting. Know that as the abbot of Battle and the monks deraigned [proved] before me that they do not have those lands which you said they had, namely, Ovington, Coding ( in Hove), Batsford (in Warbleton), Daningawurde, Shuyswell ( in Etchingham), Boarzell ( in Ticehurst), Winenham, Wertesce, Brembreshoc and Seuredeswelle, which of old belonged to Alciston and contain seven hides of land of the fifty hides in Alciston and its appurtenances, I order that they shall be free and quit on this account and that none shall molest them any further, but concerning these lands and these hides they shall be completely free and quit as concerning lands which they do not have and of which they are not seised. I also order by royal authority that their manor called Alciston, which my father gave to the church of Battle with other lands for his soul, shall be so free and quit of shires and hundreds and all customs of land-service as my father himself held it most freely and quietly, and namely concerning the work on London Bridge and on the castle of Pevensey. This I command upon my forfeiture. Witness: William de Pont de l'Arche. At Westbourne. In this lawsuit, King Henry I ordered a bishop and sheriff to put another bishop in possession of certain churches according to the verdict of twelve men: " Henry, by God's grace, etc. to H(erbert), bishop of Norwich, and Robert the sheriff, greeting. I order that you let Richard, bishop of London, have the churches of Blythburgh and Stowe with all the customs that belong to them as twelve among the better men of the hundred will be able to swear and as I ordered in my other writ. And let this not be left undone because of my voyage to Normandy, and let him hold them in peace and honour with suit, soke, toll and team and infangthief and with all other customs, as ever any of my predecessors most honourably and most quietly held them. Witness, etc." In this lawsuit, King Henry I grants that an abbot should continue to have his mint after his moneyer suffered punishment like all the others in England: "Henry, king of the English, to Everard bishop of Norwich, Robert fitz Walter and all his barons and lieges, French and English, of Suffolk, greeting. I grant that, justice having been done to his moneyer as was done to the other moneyers of England, the abbot of St. Edmunds shall have in the vill of St. Edmunds his mint, moneyer and exchange as he used to have it before. Witnesses: (John), bishop of Lisieux, (Bernard), bishop of St. David's and Robert de Sigillo, At Rouen." In this lawsuit, King Henry I held proven the ownership of certain wood and land: "Henry, king of the English, to the bishop of Lincoln and the sheriff and the barons and faithful, French and English, of Bedfordshire, greeting. Know that Abbot Reginald of Ramsey has deraigned in my court to the advantage of the church of Ramsey the wood of Crawley and the land pertaining to it against Simon de Beauchamp, about which they were in dispute, and the aforesaid abbot gave to Simon 20 marks of silver and two palfreys [riding horses] so that Simon granted them to him out of goodwill and gave up his claim. And I will and firmly order that the aforesaid church of Ramsey shall hold that wood and the aforesaid land belonging to the wood well and in peace, honourably and by perpetual right. Witnesses: bishop Roger of Salisbury and bishop Alexander of Lincoln, King David of Scotland, Geoffrey the chancellor, Earl Robert of Leicester, Adam de Port, Hugh Bigod, William d'Aubigny the butler, Geoffrey de Clinton, William of d'Aubigny Brito." The Times: 1154-1215 King Henry II and Queen Eleanor, who was twelve years older, were both intelligent, educated, energetic, well-traveled, and experienced in affairs of state. Henry was the first Norman king to be fully literate and he learned Latin. He had many books and maintained a school. Eleanor often served as regent during Henry's reign and the reigns of their two sons: Richard I, the Lion- Hearted, and John. She herself headed armies. Henry II was a modest, courteous, and patient man with an astonishing memory and strong personality. He was indifferent to rank and impatient of pomp to the point of being careless about his appearance. He usually dressed in riding clothes and was often unkempt. He was thrifty, but generous to the poor. He was an outstanding legislator and administrator. Henry II took the same coronation oath as Edward the Confessor regarding the church, laws, and justice. Not only did he confirm the charter of his grandfather Henry I, but he revived and augmented the laws and institutions of his grandfather and developed them to a new perfection. Almost all legal and fiscal institutions appear in their first effective form during his reign. For instance, he institutionalized the assize for a specific function in judicial proceedings, whereas before it had been an ad hoc body used for various purposes. The term "assize" here means the sitting of a court or council. It came to denote the decisions, enactments, or instructions made at such. Henry's government practiced a strict economy and he never exploited the growing wealth of the nation. He abhorred bloodshed and the sacrifice of men's lives. So he strove diligently to keep the peace, when possible by gifts of money, but otherwise with armed force. Robbers were hanged and any man who raped a woman was castrated. Foreign merchants with precious goods could journey safely through the land from fair to fair. These fairs were usually held in the early fall, after harvesting and sheep shearing. Foreign merchants bought wool cloth and hides. Frankpledge was revived, now applying to the unfree and villeins. No stranger could stay overnight (except for one night in a borough), unless sureties were given for his good behavior. A list of such strangers was to be given to itinerant justices. Henry had character and the foresight to build up a centralized system of government that would survive him. He learned about the counties' and villages' varying laws and customs. Then, using the model of Roman law, he gave to English institutions that unity and system which in their casual patchwork development had been lacking. Henry's government and courts forged permanent direct links between the king and his subjects which cut through the feudal structure of lords and vassals. He developed the methods and structure of government so that there was a great increase in the scope of administrative activity without a concurrent increase of personal power of the officials who discharged it. The government was self-regulating, with methods of accounting and control which meant that no official, however exalted, could entirely escape the surveillance of his colleagues and the King. At the same time, administrative and judicial procedures were perfected so that much which had previously required the King's personal attention was reduced to routine. The royal household translated the royal will into action. In the early 1100s, there had been very little machinery of central government that was not closely associated with the royal household. There was a Chief Justiciar for legal matters and a Treasurer. Royal government was largely built upon what had once been purely domestic offices. Kings had called upon their chaplains to pen letters for them. By Henry II's reign, the Chancery was a highly efficient writing office through which the King's will was expressed in a flow of writs, and the Chancellor an important and highly rewarded official, but he was still responsible for organizing the services in the royal chapel. Similarly, the chamberlains ran the household's financial departments. They arranged to have money brought in from a convenient castle treasury, collected money from sheriffs or the King's debtors, arranged loans with the usurers, and supervised the spending of it. It was spent for daily domestic needs, the King's almsgiving, and the mounting of a military campaign. But they were still responsible for personal attendance upon the king in his privy chamber, taking care of his valuable furs, jewels, and documents, and changing his bed linens. There were four other departments of the household. The steward presided over the hall and kitchens and was responsible for supplying the household and guests with food supplies. The butler had duties in the hall and cellars and was responsible for the supply of wine and ale. The marshall arranged lodgings for the King's court as it moved about from palaces to hunting lodges, arranged the pay of the household servants, and supervised the work of ushers, watchmen, fire tenders, messengers and huntsmen. The constable organized the bodyguard and escorts, arranged for the supply of castles, and mustered the royal army. The offices of steward, constable, chamberlain, butler were becoming confined to the household and hereditary. The Justiciar, Chancellor, and Treasurer are becoming purely state offices. They were simply sold or rented, until public pressure resulted in a requirement of ability. Henry's council included all his tenants-in-chief, which included archbishops, bishops, abbots, priors, earls, barons, knights and socage tenants of the crown, whether they made payments directly to him or through a sheriff. The higher ones were served with a writ addressed to them personally. Knights and below were summoned by a general writ to the sheriff. Henry brought order and unity by making the King's Royal Court the common court of the land. Its purpose was to guard the King's peace by protecting all people of free status throughout the nation and correct the disparity in punishments given by local courts. The doctrine of felony developed, with punishment by death relacing the old wites. Heretofore, the scope of the King's peace had varied to cover as little as the King's presence, his land, and his highway. The royal demesne had shrunk to about 5% of the land. The Common Law for all the nation was established by example of the King's Royal Court. Henry erected a basic, rational framework for legal processes which drew from tradition but lent itself to continuous expansion and adaptation. A system of writs originated well-defined actions in the royal courts. Each court writ had to satisfy specific conditions for this court to have jurisdiction over an action or event. This system determined the Royal Court's jurisdiction over the church, lords, and sheriffs. It limited the jurisdiction of all other courts and subordinated them to the Royal Court. Inquests into any misdeeds of sheriffs were held, which could result in their dismissal. Henry and Eleanor spoke many languages and liked discussing law, philosophy, and history. So they gathered wise and learned men about them, who became known as courtiers, rather than people of social rank. They lived in the great and strong Tower of London, which had been extended beyond the original White Tower, as had other castles, so that the whole castle and grounds were defended instead of just the main building. The Tower of London was in the custody of one of the two justiciars. On the west were two strongly fortified castles surrounded by a high and deeply entrenched wall, which had seven double gates. Towers were spaced along the north wall and the Thames River flowed below the south wall. To the west was the city, where royal friends had residences with adjoining gardens near the royal palace at Westminster. The court was a center of culture as well as of government. The game of backgammon was played. People wore belts with buckles, usually brass, instead of knotting their belts. London extended about a mile along the Thames and about half a mile inland. It had narrow twisting lanes, some with a ditch down the middle for water runoff. Most of its houses were two stories, the ground floor having booths and workshops, and the upper floor living space. Most of the houses were wooden structures. The richer merchants' and knights' houses were built of stone. Walls between houses had to be stone to a height of 16 feet and thatched roofs were banned because there had been many fires. There was poor compliance, but some roofs were tiled with red brick tiles. The population was about 40,000. There were over 126 churches for public worship, thirteen monasteries (including nunneries), and St. Paul's Cathedral. All were built of stone. The churches gave a place of worship for every 300 inhabitants and celebrated feast days, gave alms and hospitality to strangers, confirmed betrothals or agreements of marriage, celebrated weddings, conducted funerals, and buried the dead. The synod of Westminster of 1175 prescribed that all marriages were to be performed by the church. A bare exchange of words was sufficient to constitute a marriage. Church law required a warning prior to suspension or excommunication. Monastic, cathedral, and parish schools taught young boys grammar so they could sing and read in church services. Nuns taught girls. Fish but no meat was eaten on Fridays. There was dark rye bread and expensive white wheat bread. Vegetables included onions, leeks, and cabbage. Fruits included apples, pears, plums, cherries, and strawberries. Water was obtained from streams running through the town to the Thames and from springs. Only the rich, palaces, and churches could afford beeswax candles; others had homemade tallow [cow or sheep fat] candles which smelled and gave off smoke. Most people washed their bodies. Even the poor had beds and bed clothes. The beds were often shared. Few babies survived childhood. If a man reached 30, he could expect to live until age 50. Thousands of Londoners died during a hot summer from fevers, plague and the like. In London, bells heralded the start and finish of all organized business. The sellers of merchandise and hirers of labor were distributed every morning into their several localities according to their trade. Vendors, craftsmen, and laborers had their customary places. Some vendors walked the streets announcing their wares for sale. There were craft guilds of bakers, butchers, cloth workers, and saddlers, as well as of weavers. Vendors on the Thames River bank sold cooked fish caught from the river and wine from ships and wine cellars. Cook shops sold roasted meats covered with hotly spiced sauces. London Bridge was built of stone for the first time. It was supported by a series of stone arches standing on small man-made islands. It had such a width that a row of wood houses and a chapel was built on top of it. In the spring it was impassable by ships because the flow of water under it varied in height on either side of the bridge by several feet at half tide. The bridge had the effect of slowing down the flow upstream, which invited wherries and rowboats and stately barges of the nobility. In winters in which it froze over, there was ice skating, ice boating, and fishing through holes in the ice. Outside each city gate were clusters of ragged buildings, small monasteries and hostelries, groups of huntsmen's kennels, and fencing schools. Outside one of the gates, a horse market was held every week. Horses wore horseshoes made of iron or of a crude steel. From the southwest gate of the city along the north river bank toward Westminster, there was a gradually extending line of rich men's mansions and bishops' palaces. On the southern bank of the Thames River was growing the disorderly suburb of Southwark, with fishermen's and boatmens' hovels, and taverns and brothels that were frequented by drunkards, rakes, and whores. On the north side of the city was a great forest with fields and wells where students and other young men from the city took walks in the fresh evening air. In some fields, country folk sold pigs, cows, oxen and sheep. Mill wheels turned at various streams. Near London in the country was a glass factory. At sunset, the gates of London were closed for the night. All taverns had to be closed, all lights put out, and all fires banked or covered when the bell of the church of St. Martin le Grand rang at 9:00 p.m. Anyone found on the streets after this curfew could be arrested. Gangs of young nobles or gangs of thieves, cutpurses, and looters roamed the streets after dark and sometimes rioted. Offenders were often beheaded and their heads placed on spikes on London Bridge. Men in London had begun weaving cloth, which formerly had been done by women. Some of the cloth was exported. The weavers guild of London received a charter by the King in 1155, the first granted to any London craft: "Know that I have conceded to the Weavers of London to hold their guild in London with all the liberties and customs which they had in the time of King Henry [I], my grandfather; and that none may intermeddle with the craft within the city, nor in Southwark, nor in other places pertaining to London except through them and except he be in their guild, otherwise than was accustomed to be done in the time of King Henry, my grandfather …So that each year they render thence to me two marks of gold at the feast of St. Michael. And I forbid that any shall do injury or contumely to them on this account under penalty of 10 pounds [200s.]. Witness T[homas], Chancellor, and Warinus, son of Gerard, Chamberlain, at Winchester." The liberties obtained were: 1) The weavers may elect bailiffs to supervise the work of the craft, to punish defaulters, and to collect the ferm [amount owed to the King]. The bailiffs were chosen from year to year and swore before the mayor of London to do and keep their office well and truly. 2) The bailiffs may hold court from week to week on pleas of debt, agreements, covenants [promises for certain performance], and minor trespasses. 3) If any of the guild members are sued in any other court on any of the above pleas, the guild may challenge that plea to bring it to the guild court. 4) If any member is behind in his share of the payment to the King, the bailiffs may distrain his loom until he has paid this. The weavers' guild punished members who used bad thread in their weaving or did defective weaving by showing the default to the mayor, with opportunity for the workman to make entreaty, and the mayor and twelve members of the guild then made a verdict of amercement of 1/2 mark and the workman of the cloth was also punished by the guild bailiffs according to guild custom.The weavers' guild tradition of brotherliness among members meant that injury to a fellow weaver incurred a severe penalty. If a weaver stole or eloigned [removed them to a distance where they were unreachable] any other weaver's goods falsely and maliciously, then he was dismissed from the guild and his loom was taken by the guild to fulfill his portion of the annual payment to the King. The weavers were allowed to buy and to sell in London freely and quietly. They had all the rights of other freemen of the city. Paying an annual payment freed the weavers from liability to inconsequent royal fines. Failure to make this payment promptly might have led to loss of the right, hence the rigorous penalty of distraint upon the looms of individual weavers who fell into arrears. Thus from the middle of the 1100s, the weavers enjoyed the monopoly of their craft, rights of supervision which ensured a high standard of workmanship, power to punish infractions of their privileges, and full control of their members. In this they stand as the prototype of English medieval guilds. These rights represented the standard which all bodies of craftsmen desired to attain. The right of independent jurisdiction was exceptional. In Henry II's charter to London, London did not retain its right to appoint its own sheriff and justice given by Henry I. London's chief magistrate was the mayor, who was appointed by the King, until 1191. Then the mayor was elected yearly by the aldermen of the city wards and approved by the king. He was typically a rich prince chosen by the barons and chief merchants of London. The commoners had no voice in his selection, but they could still approve or disapprove of the actions of the city government at ward and folk motes. At certain periods, a king asserted royal power over the selection of mayor and governance of the city. There were three ways to become a citizen of London: being the son of a citizen, apprenticeship in a craft for seven years, and purchase of citizenship. London and Westminster growth led to their replacing Winchester as the capital. St. Barthomew infirmary was established in London for the care of sick pilgrims traveling to the shrine of Becket in Canterbury. It had been inspired by a monk who saw a vision of St. Barthomew telling him to build a church and an infirmary. Trading was facilitated by the stabilization of the amount of silver metallic content of the English coinage, which was called "sterling" [strong] silver. The compass, a magnetic lodestone [leading stone] needle mounted on a cork and floated in a bowl of water, assisted the navigation of ships. With it, one could tell the general direction of a ship when the skies were cloudy as well as clear. And one could generally track one's route by using the direction and speed of travel to calculate one's new position. London became a major trading center for foreign goods from many lands. About 5% of the knights were literate. Wealthy men sent their sons to school in monasteries to prepare them for a livelihood in a profession or in trade or to the town of Oxford, whose individual scholars had migrated from Paris and had attracted disciples for a long time. These schools grew up around St. Mary's Church, but had not been started by the church as there was no cathedral school in Oxford. Oxford had started as a burh and had a royal residence and many tradesmen. It was given its basic charter in 1155 by the King. This confirmed to it all the customs, laws and liberties [rights] as those enjoyed by London. It became a model charter for other towns. Bachelors at Oxford studied the arts of grammar, rhetoric, and logic, and then music, arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy, until they mastered their discipline and therefore were authorized to teach it. Teaching would then provide an income sufficient to support a wife. The master of arts was analogous to the master craftsman of a guild. From 1190, the civil law was studied, and shortly thereafter, canon law. Later came the study of medicine. The use of paper supplemented the use of parchment for writing. Irregular edged paper was made from linen, cotton, straw, and/or wood beaten to a pulp and then spread out over a wire mesh to dry. Theologicians taught that the universe was made for the sake and service of man, so man was placed at the center of the universe. Man was made for the sake and service of God. Every freeman holding land of a lord gave homage and fealty to him, swearing to bear him faith of the tenement held and to preserve his earthly honor in all things, saving the faith owed to the king. Homage was done for lands, for free tenements [including meadows, pastures, woods, and wastes], for services, and for rents precisely fixed in money or in kind. Homage could be done to any free person, male or female, adult or minor, cleric or layman. A man could do several homages to different lords for different fees, but there had to be a chief homage to that lord of whom he held his chief tenement. Homage was not due for dower, from the husband of a woman to whom a tenement was given as a marriage portion, for a fee given in free alms, or until the third heir, either for free maritagium In this era, the English national race and character was formed. Only a few barons still had lands in Normandy. Stories of good King Arthur were popular and set ideals for behavior and justice in an otherwise barbaric age where force was supreme. His last battle in which he lay wounded and told a kinsman to rule in his place and uphold his laws was written in poem ("Layamon's Brut"). Romantic stories were written and read in English. The custom of "bundling" was started by ladies with their knights, who would lie together in bed without undressing and with one in a sack the top of which was tied around his neck, as part of a romantic courtship. Wealthy men often gave their daughters dowries in case they were widowed. This might be matched by a marriage settlement by a prospective husband. Intermarriage had destroyed any distinction of Normans by look or speech alone, except for the Anglo-Saxon manor villeins, who worked the farm land and composed about two-thirds of the population. Villeins were bound to the land and could, on flight, be brought back to it. They could not give homage, but could give fealty. A villein had the equipment to farm, fish, make cheese, keep poultry, brew beer, hedge, and cut wood. Although the villeins could not buy their freedom or be freed by their lord, they became less numerous because of the preference of landholders for tenants motivated to perform work by potential loss of tenure. Also, the Crown's protection of all its subjects in criminal matters blurred the distinction between free and unfree men. The boroughs were dominated by lords of local manors, who usually had a house in the borough. Similarly, burgesses usually had farmland outside the borough. Many boroughs were granted, by the king or manor lord, the right to have a common seal for the common business of the town. Some boroughs were given the authority to confer freedom on the villein by enrolling him in their guild or allowing him to stay in the borough for a year and a day. The guilds met frequently in their drinking halls and drew up regulations for the management of their trade. Each borough was represented by twelve reputable burgesses. Each vill was represented by a reeve and four reputable men. Certain towns sponsored great seasonal fairs for special goods, such as cloth. About 5% of the population lived in towns. In the early 1180s, the horizontal-axle windmill was invented, probably in eastern England, on the analogy of the horizontal-axle watermill. It was very useful in flat areas where streams were too slow for a watermill unless a dam were built. But a dam often flooded agricultural land. Some watermill wheels were moved by tidal currents. London guilds of craftsmen such as weavers, fullers, bakers, loriners (makers of bits, spurs, and metal mountings of bridles and saddles), cordwainers (makers of leather goods such as shoes), pepperers, and goldsmiths were licensed by the King, for which they paid him a yearly fee. There were also five Bridge Guilds (probably raising money for the future construction of London Bridge in stone) and St. Lazarus' Guild. The wealthy guilds, which included the goldsmiths, the pepperers, and three bridge guilds had landholding members who had been thegns or knights and now became a class of royal officials: the King's minters, his chamberlain, his takers of wines, his collectors of taxes. The weavers of Oxford paid 27s. [two marks] to have a guild. The shoemakers paid 67s. [five marks]. In 1212, master carpenters, masons, and tilers made 3d. per day, their servers (the journeymen of a later time) made 1 1/2 d., free stone carvers 2 1/2 d., plasterers and daubers, diggers and sievers less. All received food in addition or 1 1/2 d. in its stead. Sandwich was confirmed in its port rights by this charter: "Henry II to his sheriff and bailiffs of Kent, greeting. I will and order that the monks of the Holy Trinity of Canterbury shall have fully all those liberties and customs in Sandwich which they had in the time of King Henry my grandfather, as it was adjudged in pursuance of his command by the oath of twelve men of Dover and twelve men of Sandwich, to wit, that the aforesaid monks ought to have the port and the toll and all maritime customs in the same port, on either side of the water from Eadburge gate as far as markesfliete and a ferryboat for passage. And no man has there any right except they and their ministers. Wherefore I will and firmly command you and the men of Sandwich that ye cause the aforesaid monks to have all their customs both in the port and in the town of Sandwich, and I forbid any from vexing them on this account.And they shall have my firm peace.""THESE ARE THE DOOMS [DECREES] WHICH KING AETHELBERHT ESTABLISHED IN THE DAYS OF AUGUSTINE
Chapter 2
"Angleterre", which means the angle or end of the earth. It was called
"Angle land", which later became "England".Chapter 3
God, unless they desist and make amends.Chapter 4
3 shillings. The woodlands are 2 miles long and the same broad. In King Edward's time and afterwards, it was worth 22 pounds [440 s.], now only 11 pounds by weight. These lands of the Countess Godiva Nicholas holds to farm of the King."
Pence, and then his laborers, herdsmen, and servants shall be exempt.
Otherwise he shall pay a fine of 30d. to the bishop and 40s. to the
king.Chapter 5
Abbetot, and to all his barons and faithful vassals, both French and
English, in Worcestershire, greeting.
Winchester; Gerard, bishop of Herefore; Henry the earl; Simon the earl;
Walter Giffard; Robert of Montfort-sur-Risle; Roger Bigot; Eudo the
steward; Robert, son of Haimo; and Robert Malet.
customs, so the following was not called a grant:
Tyne had in the time of Henry King of England and ought to have.Chapter 6