Chapter 3

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 [a privilege granted by royal charter to the lord of a manor for the having, restraining, and judging of villeins with their children, goods, and chattels], and infangenetheof [the authority to hang and take the chattels of a thief caught on his estate].

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
God, unless they desist and make amends.

*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."