Early Saxon Villages
It is with the coming of the Saxons that the history of our towns
and villages really begins. For, though there are not a few places
which show some connection with Romans, Britons, and Pit-dwellers,
it is mainly from Saxon times that we can follow the history of the
places in which we live, with any certainty.
When the Saxons came to Britain they brought their own ideas with
them, of course. Nowadays, when English folk go to settle in a
distant land, they take their English notions with them. They find,
however, in the course of time, that they have to modify or alter
them somewhat, according to the circumstances in which they are
placed. They may find that roast beef and plum-pudding do not at
all suit them in the new climate. If they are wise, they will see
whether the food-stuffs used by the natives, and folk who have
lived out there for many years, are not more suitable, even though
they may be inclined to despise such food at first.
Now the Saxon tribes which first settled in England in the fifth
century belonged to a race of people bold, strong, fierce, and
free. But they could not make their new homes exactly what their
old ones had been in the land whence they had come.
Like those other Aryan people, who had made their way to Britain
in the Stone Age, they lived together in families. When the family
became too large, some of the members had to turn out, like bees
from a hive, though not in such great numbers, and set out on their
travels to form new settlements, or village communities.
This idea of a village community had come down to them through
many generations. The early Saxon idea of a village community was
something of this sort:--
All the men of the family had equal rights; though there was one
who was head of the family, and who took the lead. The affairs of
the family were discussed and settled at open-air meetings, called
folk-moots. The spot where these were held was regarded as a sacred
place. The tilling of their land, their marriages, their quarrels,
their joining with other villages to make war or peace, were all
settled at the folk-moot. The question whether the younger branches
of the family should leave the village and go out and form another
was fixed by the folk-moot also. In the course of time many such
little swarms left the parent hive, and settled farther away. But
they always looked back upon the old settlement as their home, and
the head of the family as their chief. They were all of one _kin_,
and in the course of time they began to look upon their chief as
their king.
[Illustration: _Saxon Brooch found at Abingdon, made of gold
encrusted with coloured glass_]
Now what was the nature of the old Saxon village settlement? In
its general arrangement it was very like the old Pit-dwellers'
settlement. There was the open space where the men of the village
met, the sacred mound where the folk-moot was held. The houses in
which the family dwelt were placed close together, round the hut of
the head of the family.
[Illustration: _Diagram of a Saxon Village Settlement_]
Outside these was a paling of some sort, so that all the houses
were within the enclosure, or "tun", as it was called; and here
calves and other young stock were reared near the houses. Beyond
the enclosure, or tun, was the open pasture-ground and the arable
land, or land under cultivation. Beyond these would be the
untouched forest-land, or open moorland.
Each man of the tun had a share in these lands; not to do with as
he liked, but to use according to the custom of his family. The
arable land was divided into strips, and shared amongst the men.
However many strips of land a man might have, he could not have
them for all time. The strips were apparently chosen by lot, and
changed from time to time, so that all had an equal chance in
having the best land. In the same way the number of cattle a man
might turn out to graze on the pasture-land was regulated. The
folk-moot, or meeting of the people, was a very important assembly,
and through it the little community was governed.
Such was the mode of life to which the Saxons who came to England
had been used; but they were not nearly as free when they landed
here as their ancestors had been. More and more power had come into
the hands of the chief or king, and to him the people looked for
protection and guidance. In times of war, or when the tribe was
invading new lands, the power of the king increased. By the time,
then, that the Saxon tribes began their settlement in England, they
were very much under the rule of their chiefs or kings. The kings
had rights and powers over their followers which had gradually
grown up by long custom, and none of those followers ventured to
dispute such rights and powers.