"Unlaed, miser, improbus, infelix. (A. 142. 744. _Judith_, 134,
43.). A rare adjective never occurring in Beowulf, Coedmon, or
the Cod. Exon., and belonging to those which only appear in
conjunction with _un_. Thus, also, the Goth. unleds, pauper,
miser; and the O.H.G. unlât (Graff, 2. 166.); we nowhere find a
lêds, laed, lât, as an antithesis. It must have signified
_dives, felix_; and its root is wholly obscure."
In all the Anglo-Saxon examples of unlaed, the sense appears to be
_wretched_, _miserable_; in the Gothic it is uniformly _poor_[1]: but
_poverty_ and _wretchedness_ are nearly allied. Lêd, or laed, would
evidently therefore signify _rich_, and by inference _happy_. Now we
have abundant examples of the use of the word ledes in old English; not
only for _people_, but for _riches_, _goods_, _movable property_. Lond
and lede, or ledes, or lith, frequently occur unequivocally in this
latter sense, thus:--
"He was the first of Inglond that gaf God his tithe
Of isshue of bestes, of londes, or of _lithe_."
_P. Plouhm_.
"I bed hem bothe lond and _lede_,
To have his douhter in worthlie wede,
And spouse here with my ring."
_K. of Tars_, 124.
"For to have lond or _lede_,
Or _other riches_, so God me spede!
Yt ys to muche for me."
_Sir Cleges_, 409.
"Who schall us now geve londes or _lythe_,
Hawkys, or houndes, or stedys stithe,
As he was wont to do."
_Le B. Florence of Rome_, 841.
"No asked he lond or _lithe_,
Bot that maiden bright."
_Sir Tristrem_, xlviii.
In "William and the Werwolf" the cowherd and his wife resolve to leave
William
"Al here godis
Londes and _ludes_ as ether after her lif dawes."
p. 4
In this poem, _ludes_ and _ledes_ are used indiscriminately, but most
frequently in the sense of men, people. Sir Frederick Madden has shown,
from the equivalent words in the French original of Robert of Brunne,
"that he always uses the word in the meaning of _possessions_, whether
consisting of tenements, rents, fees, &c.;" in short, _wealth_.
If, therefore, the word has this sense in old English, we might expect
to find it in Anglo-Saxon, and I think it is quite clear that we have it
at least in one instance. In the _Ancient Laws and Institutes of
England_, vol. i. p. 184., an oath is given, in which the following
passage occurs:
"Do spa to lane
beo þé he þinum
I leat me be minum
ne 3ypne le þines
ne laedes ne landes
ne sac ne socne
ne þu mines ne þeapst
ne mint ic þe nan þio3."
Mr. Thorpe has not translated the word, nor is it noticed in his
Glossary; but I think there can be no doubt that it should be rendered
by _goods_, _chattels_, or _wealth_, i.e., movable property.
This will be even more obvious from an extract given by Bishop
Nicholson, in the preface to Wilkin's _Leges Saxonicæ_ p. vii. It is
part of the oath of a Scotish baron of much later date, and the sense
here is unequivocal:--
"I becom zour man my liege king in land, _lith_[2], life and
lim, warldly honour, homage, fealty, and leawty, against all
that live and die."
Numerous examples are to be found in the M.H. German, of which I will
cite a few:
"Ir habt doch zu iuwere hant
Beidin _liute_ unde lant."
_Tristr._ 13934.
"Und bevelhet ir _liute_ unde lant."
_Iwein._ 2889. {432}
"Ich teile ir _liute_ unde lant."
_Id._ 7714.
And in the old translation of the _Liber Dialogorum_ of St. Gregory,
printed in the cloister of S. Ulrich at Augspurg in 1473:--
"In der Statt waren hoch Türen und schöne Heüser von Silber und
Gold, und aller Hand _leüt_, und die Frawen und Man naÿgten im
alle."