After the Romans abandoned Britain the English invaded the island
449(?), and in the course of a hundred and fifty years conquered it
and established a number of rival settlements. The native Britons
were, in great part, killed off or driven to take refuge in Wales and
Cornwall.
The conquerors brought to their new home the methods of government and
modes of life to which they had been accustomed in Germany. A cluster
of towns--that is, a small number of enclosed habitations (S103)--
formed a hundred (a district having either a hundred families or able
to furnish a hundred warriors); a cluster of hundreds formed a shire
or county. Each of these divisions had its public meeting, composed
of all its freemen or their representatives, for the management of its
own affairs. But a state of war--for the English tribes fought each
other as well as fought the Britons--made a strong central government
necessary. For this reason the leader of each tribe was made king.
At first he was chosen, at large, by the entire tribe; later, unless
there was some good reason for a different choice, the King's eldest
son was selected as his successor. Thus the right to rule was
practically fixed in the line of a certain family descent.
The ruler of each of these petty kingdoms acted as commander-in-chief
in war, and as supreme judge in law.