CHAPTER XI.

THE POOR.

There is hardly a question connected with the march of civilization more

difficult to answer satisfactorily than this: What is to be done with

the Poor?

In our own day, when subdivision of labour has been carried to an

unheard of extent, when property follows the natural law of accumulation

in masses, and society numbers the proletarian as an inevitable unit

among its constituents, the question presents itself in a threatening

and dangerous form, with difficulty surrounding it on every side, and

anarchy scowling in the background, hardly to be appeased or vanquished.

But such circumstances as those we live under are rare, and almost

unexampled in history: even the later and depraved days of Roman

civilization offer but a very insufficient pattern of a similar

condition[1007]. Above all it would be difficult to find any parallel

for them in countries where land is abundant, and the accumulation of

property slow: there may be pauperism in New York, but scarcely in the

valley of the Mississippi. The cultivator may live hardly, poorly; but

he can live, and as increasing numbers gather round him and form a

market for his superfluous produce, he will gradually become easy, and

at length wealthy. It is however questionable whether population will

really increase very fast in an agricultural community where a

sufficient provision is made for every family, and where there is an

unlimited fund, and power of almost indefinite extension. On the

contrary, it seems natural under these circumstances that the proportion

between the consumers and the means of living should long continue to be

an advantageous one, and no pressure will be felt as long as no effort

is made to give a false direction to the energies of any portion of the

community.

-----

Footnote 1007:

The Roman poor-law was, consequently upon the Roman imperial

institutions, of a strange, exceptional and most dangerous character.

The rulers literally fed the people: _panem et circenses_, food and

amusements; these were the relief which the wealthy and powerful

supplied, and if ever these were sparingly distributed, convulsions

and revolution were inevitable. The Λειτουργίαι, public dinners, and

other doles of a compulsory nature assisted the poorer among the

Athenians. (I have not cancelled this note, which was written long

before the events of February 1848 and their consequences had added

another pregnant example to the store of history.)

-----

But this cannot possibly be the case in a system which limits the amount

of the estate or hýd. Here a period must unavoidably arise where

population advances too rapidly for subsistence, unless a manufacturing

effort on an extensive scale is made, and made with perfect freedom from

all restraints, but those which prudence and well-regulated views of

self-interest impose. If want of rapid internal communication deprive

the farmer of a market, and compel him to limit his produce to the

requirements of his own family, there cannot be a doubt not only that he

will be compelled to remain in a stationary and not very easy position,

but that a difficulty will arise as to the disposal of a redundant

population. Many plans have been devised to meet this difficulty; a

favourite one has been at all times, to endeavour to find means of

limiting population itself, instead of destroying all restrictions upon

occupation. The profoundest thinkers of Greece, considering that a

pauper population is inconsistent with the idea of state, have

positively recommended violent means to prevent its increase[1008]:

infanticide and exposition thus figure among the means by which Plato

and Aristotle consider that full and perfect citizenship is to be

maintained. I have already touched upon some of the means by which our

forefathers attempted this regulation: emigration was as popular a

nostrum with them as with us: service in the comitatus, even servitude

on the land, were looked to as an outlet, and slavery probably served to

keep up something of a balance: moreover it is likely that a large

proportion of the population were entirely prevented from contracting

marriage: of this last number the various orders of the clergy, and the

monks must have made an important item. It is even probable that the

somewhat severe restrictions imposed upon conjugal intercourse may have

had their rise in an erroneous view that population might thus be

limited or regulated[1009]. But still, all these means must have

furnished a very inadequate relief: even the worn-out labourer,

especially if unfree, must have become superfluous, and if he was of

little use to his owner, there was little chance of his finding a

purchaser. What provision was made for him?

-----

Footnote 1008:

Περὶ δὲ ἀποθέσεως καὶ τροφῆς τῶν γιγνομένων ἔστω νομος μηδὲν

πεπηρωμένον τρέφειν, διὰ δὲ πλῆθος τέκνων, ἐὰν ἡ τάξις τῶν ἐθῶν κωλύῃ,

μηδὲν ἀποτίθεσθαι τῶν γιγνομένων· ὥρισται γὰρ δὴ τῆς τεκνοποιΐας τὸ

πλῆθος. Arist. Polit. vii. c. 14. See also Plato, Leg. bk. 5. Ed.

Bekk. p. 739, 740, etc. Ed. Stalbaum, vol. vi. p. 131, etc. The

tendency of Aristotle’s ideas on the subject may be gathered from his

notion that the Cretans encouraged παιδεραστια, in order to check

population. I am informed upon good authority, that in the Breisgau,

and especially the See-Kreis of Baden, the younger children, or any

supposed surplus, are permitted to die, of want of food, in order that

the property (Bauerngut), amounting sometimes to 100 morgen or 66

acres of land, may remain undivided. It is also certain that in other

parts of Europe, a woman who bears more than a certain settled number

of children is looked upon with contempt.

Footnote 1009:

The Pœnitentials recommend abstinence every Wednesday, Friday and

Sunday throughout the year: on all great fasts, high feasts and

festivals: during all penances, general or special: seven months

before and after parturition.

-----

The condition of a serf or an outlaw from poverty is an abnormal one,

but only so in a Christian community. In fact it seems to me that the

State neither contemplates the existence of the poor, nor cares for it:

the poor man’s right to live is derived from the moral and Christian,

not from the public law: so little true is the general assertion that

the poor man has a right to be maintained upon the land on which he was

born. The State exists for its members, the full, free and independent

citizens, self-supported on the land; and except as self-supported on

the land it knows no citizens at all. Any one but the holder of a free

hýd must either fly to the forest or take service, or steal and become a

þeóv. How the pagan Saxons contemplated this fact it is impossible to

say, but at the period when we first meet with them in history, two

disturbing causes were in operation; first the gradual loosening of the

principle of the mark-settlement, and the consequent accumulation of

landed estates in few hands; secondly the operation of Christianity.

This taught the equality of men in the eye of God, who had made all men

brothers in the mystery of Christ’s passion. And from this also it

followed that those who had been bought with that precious sacrifice

were not to be cast away. The sin of suffering a child to die unbaptized

was severely animadverted upon. The crime of infanticide could only be

expiated by years of hard and wearisome penance; but the penance

unhappily bears witness to the principle,—a principle universally pagan,

and not given up, even to this day, by nations and classes which would

repudiate with indignation the reproach of paganism, though thoroughly

imbued with pagan habits. In the seventh century we read of the

existence of poor, and we read also of the duty of assisting them. But

as the State had in fact nothing to do with them, and no machinery of

its own to provide for them, and as the clergy were _ex officio_ their

advocates and protectors, the State did what under the circumstances was

the best thing to do, it recognized the duty which the clergy had

imposed upon themselves of supporting the poor. It went further,—it

compelled the freeman to supply the clergy with the means of doing it.

In the last years of the sixth century, Gregory the Great informed

Augustine that it was the custom of the Roman church to cause a fourth

part of all that accrued to the altar from the oblations of the faithful

to be given to the poor; and this was beyond a doubt the legitimate

substitute for the old mode of distribution which the Apostles and their

successors had adopted while the church lurked in corners and in

catacombs, and its communicants stole a fearful and mysterious pleasure

in its ministrations under the jealous eyes of imperial paganism. As

soon however as the accidental oblations were to a great degree replaced

by settled payments (whether arising out of land or not[1010]), and

these were directed to be applied in definite proportions, we may

venture to say that the State had a poor-law, and that the clergy were

the relieving officers. The spirit of Gregory’s injunction is that a

part of _all_ that accrues shall be given to the poor; and this applies

with equal force to tithes, churchshots, bóts or fines, eleemosynary

grants, and casual oblations. In this spirit, it will be seen, the

Anglosaxon clergy acted, and we may believe that no inconsiderable fund

was provided for distribution. The liability of the tithe is the first

point upon which I shall produce evidence. The first secular notice of

this is contained in the following law of Æðelred, an. 1014:—“And

concerning tithe, the king and his _witan_ have chosen and said, as

right it is, that the third part of the tithe which belongs to the

church, shall go to the reparation of the church, and a second part to

the servants of God, and the third to God’s poor and needy men in

thraldom[1011].”

-----

Footnote 1010:

“To shipmen it is commanded, like as it also is to husbandmen, that

they should give unto God the tenth part of all the increase upon

their stock, and moreover give alms from the nine parts that are their

own. And so is it commanded to every man that from the same craft

wherewith he provides for his body’s need, he provide for that of his

soul also, which is better than the body.” Ecc. Institutes. Thorpe,

ii. 432. “O homo, inde Dominus decimas expetit, unde vivis. De

militia, de negotio, de artificio redde decimas.” St. Augustine, cited

by Ecgb. Excerp. 102. Thorpe, ii. 112.

Footnote 1011:

Æðelred, ix. § 6. Thorpe, i. 342. This passage of Augustine is

referred to in the collection commonly attributed to Ed. Conf. And a

detailed enumeration is given of tithe: thus, the tenth sheaf of corn;

from a herd of mares, the tenth foal; where there are only one or two

mares, a penny per foal. Similarly of cows, the tenth calf or an

_obolus_ per calf. The tenth cheese, or the tenth day’s milk. The

tenth lamb, fleece, measure of butter, and pig. Of bees according to

the yearly yield: from groves and meadows, mills and waters, parks,

stews, fisheries, brushwood, orchards; the produce of all business,

and indeed of everything the Lord has given, the tenth part shall be

rendered. Thorpe, i. 445.

But if positive public enactment be rare, it is not so with

ecclesiastical law, and the recommendations of the rulers of the

Anglosaxon church. The Poenitentials, Confessionals, and other works

compiled by these prelates for the guidance and instruction of the

clergy abound in passages wherein the obligation of providing for the

poor out of the tithe is either assumed or positively asserted. In the

‘Capitula et Fragmenta’ of Theodore, dating in the seventh century, it

is written, “It is not lawful to give tithes save unto the poor and

pilgrims[1012],” which can hardly mean anything but a prohibition to the

clergy, to make friends among the laity by giving them presents out of

the tithe; but which shows what were the lawful or legitimate uses of

tithe. Again he says[1013],—“If any one administers the xenodochia of

the poor, or has received the tithes of the people, and has converted

any portion thereof to his own uses,” etc.

-----

Footnote 1012:

Cap. et Fragm. Theod. Thorpe, ii. 65.

Footnote 1013:

Ibid. Thorpe, ii. 80. These xenodochia were hospitals or almshouses.

-----

In the Excerptions of archbishop Ecgberht we find the following

canon:—“The priests are to take tithes of the people, and to make a

written list of the names of the givers, and according to the authority

of the canons, they are to divide them, in the presence of men that fear

God. The first part they are to take for the adornment of the church;

but the second they are in all humility, mercifully to distribute with

their own hands, for the use of the poor and strangers; the third part

however the priests may reserve for themselves[1014].”

-----

Footnote 1014:

Excerp. Ecgb. Thorpe, ii. 98.

-----

In the Confessional of the same prelate we find the following

exhortation, to be addressed by the priest to the penitent:—“Be thou

gentle and charitable to the poor, zealous in almsgiving, in attendance

at church, and in the giving of tithe to God’s church and the

poor[1015].”

-----

Footnote 1015:

Confes. Ecgb. Thorpe, ii. 132.

-----

In the canons enacted under Eádgár, but which are at least founded upon

an ancient work of Cummianus, there is this entry:—“We enjoin that the

priests so distribute the people’s alms, that they do both give pleasure

to God, and accustom the people to alms[1016];” to which however there

is an addition which can scarcely well be understood of anything but

tithe: “and it is right that one part be delivered to the priests, a

second part for the need of the church, and a third part for the poor.”

-----

Footnote 1016:

Thorpe, ii. 256.

-----

The Canons of Ælfríc have the same entry, and the same mode of

distribution as those of Ecgberht: “The holy fathers have also appointed

that men shall pay their tithes into God’s church. And let the priest go

thither, and divide them into three: one part for the repair of the

church; the second for the poor; the third for God’s servants who attend

to the church[1017].”

-----

Footnote 1017:

Thorpe, ii. 352.

-----

Thus according to the view of the Anglosaxon church, ratified by the

express enactment of the witan, a third of the tithe was the absolute

property of the poor. But other means were found to increase this fund:

not only was the duty of almsgiving strenuously enforced, but even the

fasts and penances recommended or imposed by the clergy were made

subservient to the same charitable purpose. The canons enacted under

Eádgár provide[1018], that “when a man fasts, then let the dishes that

would have been eaten be all distributed to God’s poor.” And again the

Ecclesiastical Institutes declare[1019]: “It is daily needful for every

man that he give his alms to poor men; but yet when we fast, then ought

we to give greater alms than on other days; because the meat and the

drink, which we should then use if we did not fast, we ought to

distribute to the poor.”

-----

Footnote 1018:

Ibid. ii. 286.

Footnote 1019:

Ibid. ii. 437.

-----

So in certain cases where circumstances rendered the strict performance

of penance difficult or impossible, a kind of tariff seems to have been

devised, the application of which was left to the discretion of the

confessor. The proceeds of this commutation were for the benefit of the

poor. Thus Theodore teaches[1020]:—“But let him that through infirmity

cannot fast, give alms to the poor according to his means; that is, for

every day a penny or two or three.... For a year let him give thirty

shillings in alms; the second year, twenty; the third, fifteen.”

-----

Footnote 1020:

Poenit. Thorpe, ii. 61: see also ii. 83. Tit. de incestis.

-----

Again[1021]:—“He that knows not the psalms and cannot fast, must give

twenty-two shillings in alms for the poor, as commutation for a year’s

fasting on bread and water; and let him fast every Friday on bread and

water, and three forties; that is, forty days before Easter, forty

before the festival of St. John the Baptist, and forty before

Christmas-day. And in these three forties let him estimate the value or

possible value of whatsoever is prepared for his use, in food, in drink

or whatever it may be, and let him distribute the half of that value in

alms to the poor,” etc.

-----

Footnote 1021:

Thorpe, ii. 68. See also pp. 67, 69, 70, 134, 222.

-----

When we consider the almost innumerable cases in which penance must have

been submitted to by conscientious believers, and the frequent

hindrances which public or private business and illness must have thrown

in the way of strict performance, we may conclude that no slight

addition accrued from this source to the fund at the disposal of the

church for the benefit of the poor. Even the follies and vices of men

were made to contribute their quota in a more direct form. Ecgberht

requires that a portion of the spoil gained in war shall be applied to

charitable purposes[1022]; and he estimates the amount at no less than a

third of the whole booty. Again, it is positively enacted by Æðelred and

his witan that a portion of the fines paid by offenders to the church

should be applied in a similar manner: they say[1023], that such money

“belongs lawfully, by the direction of the bishops, to the buying of

prayers, to the behoof of the poor, to the reparation of churches, to

the instruction, clothing and feeding of those who minister to God, for

books, bells and vestments, but never for idle pomp of this world.”

-----

Footnote 1022:

Poenit. Ecgb. Thorpe, ii. 232.

Footnote 1023:

Æðelr. vi. § 51. Thorpe, i. 328.

-----

More questionable is a command inculcated by archbishop Ecgberht, that

the over-wealthy should punish themselves for their folly by large

contributions to the poor[1024]: “Let him that collecteth immoderate

wealth, for his want of wisdom, give the third part to the poor.”

-----

Footnote 1024:

Thorpe, ii. 232.

-----

Upon the bishops and clergy was especially imposed the duty of attending

to this branch of Christian charity, which they were commanded to

exemplify in their own persons: thus the bishops are admonished to feed

and clothe the poor[1025], the clerk who possessed a superfluity was to

be excommunicated if he did not distribute it to the poor[1026], nay the

clergy were admonished to learn and practise handicrafts, not only in

order to keep themselves out of mischief and avoid the temptations of

idleness, but that they might earn funds wherewith to relieve the

necessities of their brethren[1027]. Those who are acquainted with the

MSS. and other remains of Anglosaxon art are well-aware how great

eminence was attained by some of these clerical workmen, and how

valuable their skill may have been in the eyes of the wealthy and

liberal[1028].

-----

Footnote 1025:

Archbishop Ecgberht, from the Canons of the Council of Orleans:

“Episcopus pauperibus et infirmis, qui debilitate faciente non possunt

suis manibus laborare, victum et vestimentum, in quantum possibilitas

fuerit, largiatur.” Thorpe, ii. 105.

Footnote 1026:

Theod. Poen. xxv. § 6.

Footnote 1027:

Ecc. Inst. Thorpe, ii. 404.

Footnote 1028:

We know that Benedict Biscop received as much as eight hides of land

for one volume of geographical treatises, illustrated and illuminated.

Bed. Op. Min. 155.

-----

Another source of relief remains to be noticed: I mean the eleemosynary

foundations. It is of course well known that every church and monastery

comprised among its necessary buildings a xenodochium, hospitium or

similar establishment, a kind of hospital for the reception and

refection of the poor, the houseless and the wayfarer. But I allude more

particularly to the foundations which the piety of the clergy or laics

established without the walls of the churches or monasteries. Æðelstán

commanded the royal reeves throughout his realm to feed and clothe one

poor man each: the allowance was to be, from every two farms, an amber

of meal, a shank of bacon, or a ram worth fourpence, monthly, and

clothing for the whole year. The reeves here intended must have been the

bailiffs (villici, praepositi, túngeréfan) of the royal vills; and, if

they could not find a poor man in their vill, they were to seek him in

another[1029]. In the churches which were especially favoured with the

patronage of the wealthy and powerful, it was usual for the anniversary

of the patron to be celebrated with religious services, a feast to the

brotherhood and a distribution of food to the poor, which was

occasionally a very liberal one. In the year 832 we learn incidentally

what were the charitable foundations of archbishop Wulfred. He commanded

twenty-six poor men to be daily fed on different manors, he gave each of

them yearly twenty-six pence to purchase clothing, and further ordered

that on his anniversary twelve hundred poor men should receive each a

loaf of bread and a cheese, or bacon and one penny[1030].

-----

Footnote 1029:

Thorpe, i. 196.

Footnote 1030:

Cod. Dipl. No. 230.

-----

Oswulf, who was duke of East Kent at the commencement of the ninth

century, left lands to Canterbury charging the canons with doles upon

his anniversary: twenty ploughlands or about twelve hundred acres at

Stanstead were to supply the canons and the poor on that day with one

hundred and twenty wheaten loaves, thirty of pure wheat, one fat ox,

four sheep, two flitches, five geese, ten hens, ten pounds of cheese (or

if it happened to be a fastday, a weigh of cheese, fish, butter and eggs

_ad libitum_), thirty measures of good Welsh ale, and a tub of honey or

two of wine. From the lands of the brotherhood were to issue one hundred

and twenty _sufl_ loaves, apparently a kind of cake; while his lands at

Bourn were to supply a thousand loaves of bread and a thousand

_sufls_[1031]. Towards the end of the tenth century Wulfwaru devised her

lands to various relatives, and charged them with the support of twenty

poor men[1032]. About the same period Æðelstán the æðeling gave lands to

Ely on condition that they fed one hundred poor men on his anniversary,

at the expense of his heirs.

-----

Footnote 1031:

Cod. Dipl. No. 226. I think these súfls must be _subflata_, raised or

leavened bread. The contrast afforded by the heavy black rye bread of

Westphalia—technically Pumpernickel—will serve to explain the term. In

the east of England still a kind of cakes are called _Sowls_, probably

Sufls.

Footnote 1032:

Cod. Dipl. No. 694.

-----

From what has preceded it may fairly be argued that at all times there

was a very sufficient fund for the relief of the poor, seeing that

tithe, penance, fine, voluntary contribution, and compulsory assessment

all combined to furnish their quota. It now remains to enquire into the

method of its distribution.

The gains of the altar, whether in tithes, oblations, or other forms,

were strictly payable over to the metropolitan or cathedral church of

the district. The division of the fund was thus committed to the

consulting body of the clergy, and their executive or head; and the

several shares were thus distributed under the supervision and by the

authority of the bishop and his canons in each diocese. Private alms may

have remained occasionally at the disposal of the priest in a small

parish, but the recognized public alms which were the property of the

poor, and held in trust for them by the clergy, were necessarily managed

by the principal body, the clergy of the cathedral. To the vicinity of

the cathedral flocked the maimed, the halt, the blind, the destitute and

friendless, to be fed and clothed and tended for the love of God. In

that vicinity they enjoyed shelter, defence, private aid and public

alms; and as in some few cases the cathedral church was surrounded by a

flourishing city, they could hope for the chances which always accompany

a close manufacturing or retailing population. In this way the largest

proportion of the poor must have been collected near the chief church of

the diocese, on whose lands they found an easy settlement, in whose

xenodochia, hospitals and almshouses they met with a refuge, to whom

they gave their services, such as they were, and from whom they received

in turn the support which secular lords were unable or unwilling to

give: for the cathedral church being generally a very considerable

landowner, had the power of employing much more labour than the majority

of secular landlords in any given district.

But it must not be imagined that the poor could obtain no relief save at

the cathedral: every parish-church had its share of the public fund, as

well as private alms, devoted to this purpose; and to the necessary

buildings of every parish-church, however small, a xenodochium belonged.

When now we consider the great number of churches that existed all over

England in the tenth century, a number which most likely exceeded that

now in being, and consequently bore a most disproportionate ratio to the

then population of the country,—when we further consider that the poor

were comparatively few (so that a provision was absolutely made for the

case where a pauper could not be found in a royal village), we shall

have no difficulty in concluding that relief was supplied in a very

ample degree to the needy.

It does not necessarily follow, although in itself very probable, that

the claim to relief was a territorial one, that is that the man was to

have relief where he was born, lived or had gained a settlement by

labour. As some landowners, particularly in later times, especially

honoured certain churches with the grant of tithes consecrated to them,

it is possible that some paupers may have followed the convenient

precedent, and argued that whither the fund went, thither might the

recipients go also. And inasmuch as in many cases they would appear

under the guise of poor pilgrims, we can readily understand the immense

resort to particular shrines at particular periods, without overrating

the devotion or the superstition of the multitude. But all this might

have led to very serious consequences, had the facilities _really_ been

so great. In point of fact there were no facilities at all except for

such as were from age or infirmity incapable of doing any valuable

service. For among the Saxons the law of settlement applied inexorably

to all classes: no man had a legal existence unless he could be shown to

belong to some association connected with a certain locality, or to be

in the hand, protection and surety of a landed lord. Even a man of the

rank nearest the princes or ealdorman could not leave his land without

having fulfilled certain conditions; and the illegal migration of a

dependent man from one shire or one estate to another was punished in

the severest manner, in the persons of all concerned. He was called a

Flýma or fugitive, and the receiving or harbouring him was a grave

offence, punishable with a heavy fine, to be raised for the benefit of

the king’s officers in the shire the fugitive deserted, as well as that

wherein he was received[1033]. Even if the vigilance of the sheriffs and

ealdorman in two shires could be lulled, it was difficult to disarm the

selfishness of a landlord or an owner who thought the runaway’s services

of any value, or his price worth securing. A year and a day must elapse

ere the right abated from the “lord in pursuit,” for so was the lord

called over all Europe in the idioms of the several tongues[1034]; and

hence it cannot have been a very easy matter for any man to take

advantage of the poor-law, while it remained any one’s advantage to keep

him from falling into the state of pauperism: in other words, no man

whose labour still possessed any value would be so cast upon the world

as to have no refuge but what the church in Christian charity provided.

And this was the real and trustworthy test of destitution. If a man was

so helpless, friendless and useless that he could find no place in one

of the mutual associations, or in a lord’s family, it is clear that he

must become an outlaw as far as the State is concerned[1035]: he must

fly to the woods, turn serf or steal, or else commend himself as a

pauper to the benefits of clerical superintendence: but it is perfectly

obvious that none but the hopelessly infirm or aged could ever be placed

under such difficulty, in a country situated like England at any period

of the Saxon rule, and hence pauper relief was in practice strictly

confined to those for whom it was justly intended. The Saxon poor-law

then appears simple enough, and well might it be so: they had not tried

many unsuccessful and ridiculous experiments in œconomics, suffered

themselves to be misled by very many mischievous crochets, nor on the

whole did they find it necessary to make so expensive a protest against

bad commercial legislation as our poor-law has proved to us. But it is

not quite the simple thing it seems, and requires two elements for its

efficient working, which are not to be found at every period, namely a

powerful, conscientious clergy, and a system of property founded

exclusively upon the possession of land, and guarded by a compulsory

distribution of all citizens into certain fixed and settled

associations.

-----

Footnote 1033:

Ælfr. § 33. “Be boldgetǽle.”

Footnote 1034:

In Germany the Nachfolgende, Nachjagende Herr. See Fleta i. cap. 7. §

7, 8.

Footnote 1035:

The lordless man, of whom no right could be got, i.e. who being in no

sort of association, could neither support himself nor offer any

guarantee to society, was to be got into one by his family. If they

either could not or would not produce him at the folcmót and find a

lord for him, he became an outlaw, and any one might slay him. Leg.

Æðelstán. Thorpe, i. 200. The same prince decided that if any landless

man, who followed a lord in some other shire, should revisit his

family, they might receive him on condition of being answerable for

his offences. Thorpe, i. 204. But this seems to me to be the case

merely of a temporary visit, made of course with the knowledge and

permission of his lord.

-----

I have already called attention to the fact that it was usual, if not

necessary, on emancipating a serf, to provide for his subsistence. It is

however not improbable that, though such emancipated serfs remained for

the most part upon the land, and in the protection of their former lord,

they found some assistance from the poor fund, either directly from the

church, or indirectly through the private alms of the lord.

To resume all the facts of the case:—the State did not contemplate the

existence or provide for the support of any poor: it demanded that every

man should either be answerable for himself in a mutual bond of

association with his neighbours; or that he should place himself under

the protection of a lord, if he had no means of his own, and thus have

some one to answer for him. If unfree, the State of course held him to

be the chattel of his owner, who was only responsible to God for his

treatment of him. He therefore who had no means and could find no one to

take charge of him was an outlaw, that is, had no civil rights of any

kind.

But Christianity taught that there was something even above the State,

which the State itself was bound to recognize. It accordingly impressed

upon all communicants the moral and religious duty of assisting those of

their brethren whom the strict law condemned to misery; and the clergy

presented their organization as a very efficient machinery for the

proper distribution of alms. The voluntary oblations became in time

replaced by settled payments; but the law did not alter the disposition

which the clergy had adopted; it only recognized and sanctioned it;

first by making the various church payments compulsory upon all classes;

and secondly by enacting that the mode of distribution long prevalent

should be the legal one, in a secular as well as an ecclesiastical

obligation. And thus by slow degrees, as the State itself became

Christianized, the moral duty became a legal one; and the merciful

intervention of religion was allowed to supply what could not be found

in the strict rule of law.

It is unnecessary here to enquire how the power of the clergy to assist

the poor was gradually diminished, by the arbitrary consecration or

total subtraction of tithe, and other ecclesiastical payments; or how

the burthen of supporting the poor, having become a religious as well as

a civil duty, was shifted from one fund to another. It is enough to have

shown how the difficulty was attempted to be met during the continuance

of the Anglosaxon institutions. Under the present circumstances of

almost every European state, it is admitted that no man is to perish for

want of means, while means anywhere exist to feed him: and but two

questions can be admitted, namely:—Who is really in want? and,—How is he

to be fed at the least possible amount of loss to others? This is as far

as the State will go. Religion, properly considered, imposes very

different duties, and very different tests: but public morality alone

ought to teach that where the State has interfered on one side, it must

pay the penalty on the other; and that where it has positively

prescribed the directions in which men shall seek their subsistence, it

is bound to indemnify those whom these restrictions have tended to

impoverish. Every Poor Law is a protest against some wrong done: and in

proportion to the wrong is the energy of the protest itself. Do not

interfere with industry, and it will be very safe to leave poverty to

take care of itself. It is quite possible to conceive a state of things

in which crime and poverty shall be really convertible ideas, but of

this the history of the world as yet has given us no example.

APPENDIX.

APPENDIX A.

THE DOOMS OF THE CITY OF LONDON.

(Æðelstán V. Thorpe, i. 228, sq.)

“This is the ordinance which the bishops and the reeves belonging to

London have ordained, and with weds confirmed, among our ‘frith

gegildas,’ as well eorlish as ceorlish, in addition to the dooms which

were fixed at Greatanlea and at Exeter and at Thunresfeld.

“_This then is first._

“1. That no thief be spared over XII pence, and no person over XII

years, whom we learn according to folkright that he is guilty, and can

make no denial; that we slay him, and take all that he has; and first

take the ‘ceapgild’ from the property; and after that let the surplus be

divided into II: one part to the wife, if she be innocent, and were not

privy to the crime; and the other into II; let the king take half, half

the fellowship. If it be bócland or bishop’s land, then has the landlord

the half part in common with the fellowship.

“2. And he who secretly harbours a thief, and is privy to the crime and

to the guilt, to him let the like be done.

“3. And he who stands with a thief, and fights with him, let him be

slain with the thief.

“4. And he who oft before has been convicted openly of theft, and shall

go to the ordeal, and is there found guilty; that he be slain, unless

the kindred or the lord be willing to release him by his ‘wer,’ and by

the full ‘ceap-gild,’ and also have him in ‘borh,’ that he thenceforth

desist from every kind of evil. If after that he again steal, then let

his kinsmen give him up to the reeve to whom it may appertain, in such

custody as they before took him out of from the ordeal, and let him be

slain in retribution of the theft. But if any one defend him, and will

take him, although he was convicted at the ordeal, so that he might not

be slain; that he should be liable in his life, unless he should flee to

the king, and he should give him his life; all as it was before ordained

at Greatanlea, and at Exeter, and at Thunresfeld.

“5. And whoever will avenge a thief, and commits an assault, or makes an

attack on the highway; let him be liable in CXX shillings to the king.

But if he slay any one in his revenge, let him be liable in his life,

and in all that he has, unless the king is willing to be merciful to

him.

“_Second._

“That we have ordained: that each of us should contribute IV pence for

our common use within XII months, and pay for the property which should

be taken after we had contributed the money; and that all should have

the search in common; and that every man should contribute his shilling

who had property to the value of XXX pence, except the poor widow who

has no ‘forwyrhta’ nor any land.

“_Third._

“That we count always ten men together, and the chief should direct the

nine in each of those duties which we have all ordained; and [count]

afterwards their ‘hyndens’ together, and one ‘hynden-man’ who shall

admonish the X for our common benefit; and let these XI hold the money

of the ‘hynden,’ and decide what they shall disburse when aught is to

pay, and what they shall receive, if money should arise to us, at our

common suit; and let them also know that every contribution be

forthcoming which we have all ordained for our common benefit, after the

rate of XXX pence or one ox; so that all be fulfilled which we have

ordained in our ordinances, and which stands in our agreement.

“_Fourth._

“That every man of them who has heard the orders should be aidful to

others, as well in tracing as in pursuit, so long as the track is known;

and after the track has failed him, that one man be found where there is

a large population, as well as from one tithing where a less population

is, either to ride or to go (unless there be need of more) thither where

most need is, and as they all have ordained.

“_Fifth._

“That no search be abandoned, either to the north of the march or to the

south, before every man who has a horse has ridden one riding; and that

he who has not a horse, work for the lord who rides or goes for him,

until he come home; unless right shall have been previously obtained.

“_Sixth._

“1. Respecting our ‘ceapgild’: a horse at half a pound, if it be so

good; and if it be inferior, let it be paid for by the worth of its

appearance, and by that which the man values it at who owns it, unless

he have evidence that it be as good as he says, and then let [us] have

the surplus which we there require.

“2. An ox at a mancus, and a cow at XX, and a swine at X, and a sheep at

a shilling.

“3. And we have ordained respecting our ‘theowmen’ whom men might have;

if anyone should steal him, that he should be paid for with half a

pound; but if we should raise the ‘gild,’ that it should be increased

above that, by the worth of his appearance, and that we should have for

ourselves the surplus that we then should require. But if he should have

stolen himself away, that he should be led to the stoning, as it was

formerly ordained; and that every man who had a man, should contribute

either a penny or a halfpenny, according to the number of the

fellowship, so that we might be able to raise the worth. But if he

should make his escape, that he should be paid for by the worth of his

appearance, and we all should make search for him. If we then should be

able to come at him, that the same should be done to him that would be

done to a Wylisc thief, or that he be hanged.

“4. And let the ‘ceapgild’ always advance from XXX pence to half a

pound, after we make search; further, if we raise the ‘ceap-gild’ to the

full ‘angilde’; and let the search still continue, as was before

ordained, though it be less.

“_Seventh._

“That we have ordained: let do the deed whoever may that shall avenge

the injuries of us all, that we should be all so in one friendship as in

one foeship, whichever it then may be; and that he who should kill a

thief before other men, that he be XII pence the better for the deed,

and for the enterprize, from our common money. And he who should own the

property for which we pay let him not forsake the search, on peril of

our ‘oferhyrnes,’ and the notice therewith, until we come to payment;

and then also we would reward him for his labour, out of our common

money, according to the worth of the journey, lest the giving notice

should be neglected.

“_Eighth._

“1. That we gather to us once in every month, if we can and have

leisure, the ‘hynden men’ and those who direct the tithings, as well

with ‘bytt-fylling,’ as else it may concern us, and know what of our

agreement has been executed; and let these XII men have their refection

together, and feed themselves according as they may deem themselves

worthy, and deal the remains of the meat for the love of God.

“2. And if it then should happen that any kin be so strong and so great,

within land or without, whether ‘XII hynde’ or ‘twy hynde,’ that they

refuse us right, and stand up in defence of a thief; that we all of us

ride thereto with the reeve within whose ‘manung’ it may be.

“3. And also send on both sides to the reeves, and desire from them aid

of so many men as may seem to us adequate for so great a suit, that

there may be the more fear in those culpable men for our assemblage, and

that we all ride thereto, and avenge our wrong, and slay the thief, and

those who fight and stand with him, unless they be willing to depart

from him.

“4. And if any one trace a track from one shire to another, let the men

who there are next take to it, and pursue the track till it be made

known to the reeve; let him then with his ‘manung’ take to it, and

pursue the track out of his shire, if he can; but if he cannot, let him

pay the ‘angylde’ of the property, and let both reeveships have the full

suit in common, be it wherever it may, as well to the north of the march

as to the south, always from one shire to another; so that every reeve

may assist another, for the common ‘frith’ of us all, by the king’s

‘oferhyrnes.’

“5. And also that everyone shall help another, as it is ordained and by

‘weds’ confirmed; and such man as shall neglect this beyond the march,

let him be liable in XXX pence, or an ox, if he aught of this neglect

which stands in our writings, and we with our ‘weds’ have confirmed.

“6. And we have also ordained respecting every man who has given his

‘wed’ in our gildships, if he should die, that each gild-brother shall

give a ‘gesufel’ loaf for his soul, and sing a fifty, or get it sung

within XXX days.

“7. And we also command our ‘hiremen’ that each man shall know when he

has his cattle, or when he has not, on his neighbour’s witness, and that

he point out to us the track, if he cannot find it within three days;

for we believe that many heedless men reck not how their cattle go, for

over-confidence in the ‘frith.’

“8. Then we command that within III days he make it known to his

neighbours, if he will ask for the ‘ceap-gild’; and let the search

nevertheless go on as it was before ordained, for we will not pay for

any unguarded property, unless it be stolen. Many men speak fraudulent

speech. If he cannot point out to us the track, let him show on oath

with III of his neighbours that it has been stolen within III days, and

after that let him ask for his ‘ceap-gild.’

“9. And let it not be denied nor concealed, if our lord or any of our

reeves should suggest to us any addition to our ‘frith-gilds’ that we

will joyfully accept the same, as it becomes us all, and may be

advantageous to us. But let us trust in God, and our kingly lord, if we

fulfil all things thus, that the affairs of all folk will be better with

respect to theft than they before were. If, however, we slacken in the

‘frith’ and the ‘wed’ which we have given, and the king has commanded of

us, then may we expect, or well know, that these thieves will prevail

yet more than they did before. But let us keep our ‘weds’ and the

‘frith’ as is pleasing to our lord; it greatly behoves us that we devise

that which he wills; and if he order and instruct us more, we shall be

humbly ready.

“_Ninth._

“That we have ordained: respecting those thieves whom one cannot

immediately discover to be guilty, and one afterwards learns that they

are guilty and liable; that the lord or the kinsmen should release him

in the same manner as those men are released who are found guilty at the

ordeal.

“_Tenth._

“That all the ‘witan’ gave their ‘weds’ altogether to the archbishop at

Thunresfeld, when Ælfeah Stybb and Brihtnoth Odda’s son came to meet the

‘gemot’ by the king’s command; that each reeve should take the ‘wed’ in

his own shire: that they would all hold the ‘frith’ as king Æthelstan

and his ‘witan’ had counselled it, first at Greatanlea, and again at

Exeter, and afterwards at Feversham, and a fourth time at Thunresfeld,

before the archbishop and all the bishops, and his ‘witan’ whom the king

himself named, who were thereat: that those dooms should be observed

which were fixed at this ‘gemot,’ except those which were there before

done away with; which was, Sunday marketing, and that with full and true

witness any one might buy out of port.

“_Eleventh._

“That Æthelstan commands his bishops and his ‘ealdormen’ and all his

reeves over all my realm, that ye so hold the ‘frith’ as I and my

‘witan’ have ordained; and if any of you neglect it, and will not obey

me, and will not take the ‘wed’ of his ‘hiremen,’ and he allow of secret

compositions, and will not attend to these regulations as I have

commanded, and it stands in our writs; then be the reeve without his

‘folgoth’, and without my friendship, and pay me cxx shilling; and each

of my thanes who has land, and will not keep the regulations as I have

commanded, [let him pay] half that.

“_Twelfth._

“1. That the king now again has ordained to his ‘witan’ at Witlanburh,

and has commanded it to be made known to the archbishop by bishop

Theodred, that it seemed to him too cruel that so young a man should be

killed, and besides for so little, as he has learned has somewhere been

done. He then said, that it seemed to him, and to those who counselled

with him, that no younger person should be slain than xv years, except

he should make resistance or flee, and would not surrender himself; that

then he should be slain, as well for more as for less, whichever it

might be. But if he be willing to surrender himself, let him be put into

prison, as it was ordained at Greatanlea, and by the same let him be

redeemed.

“2. Or if he come not into prison, and they have none, that they take

him in ‘borh’ by his full ‘wer,’ that he will evermore desist from every

kind of evil. If the kindred will not take him out, nor enter into

‘borh’ for him, then let him swear as the bishop may instruct him, that

he will desist from every kind of evil, and stand in servitude by his

‘wer.’ But if he after that again steal, let him be slain or hanged, as

was before done to the elder ones.

“3. And the king has also ordained, that no one should be slain for less

property than xii pence worth, unless he will flee or defend himself;

and that then no one should hesitate, though it were for less. If we it

thus hold, then trust I in God that our ‘frith’ will be better than it

has before been.”

------------------

The following Flemish Charters of Liberties seemed to me fitting to be

recorded here. They are taken from the ‘Piéces justificatives’ of

Warnkönig’s History of Flanders, vol. ii.

I. _Première Charte ou_ Keure _de la ville de St. Omer, accordée par

Guillaume de Normandie, comte de Flandre, et confirmée par

Louis-le-Gros, roi de France. 14 Avril 1127._

“Ego Guillelmus Dei gratia Flandrensium Comes petitioni Burgensium

Sancti Audomari contraïre nolens, pro eo maxime quia meam de Consulatu

Flandriæ petitionem libenti animo receperunt, et quia honestius et

fidelius cæteris Flandrensibus erga me semper se habuerunt, lagas seu

consuetudines subscriptas perpetuo eis iuro concedo, et ratas manere

præcipio.

Ҥ 1. Primo quidem ut erga unumquemque hominem, pacem eis faciam et eos

sicut homines meos sine malo ingenio manuteneam et defendam; rectumque

iudicium scabinorum erga unumquemque hominem, et erga me ipsum eis fieri

concedam; ipsisque scabinis libertatem, qualem melius habent scabini

terræ meæ constituam.

Ҥ 2. Si quis Burgensium Sancti Audomari alicui pecuniam suam

crediderit, et ille cui credita est, coram legitimis hominibus et in

villa sua hereditariis sponte concesserit, quod si die constituta

pecuniam non persolverit, ipse vel bona eius, donec omnia reddat,

retineantur: si persolvere noluerit, aut si negaverit hanc conventionem,

et testimonio duorum Scabinorum, vel duorum iuratorum inde convictus

fuerit, donec debitum solvat, retineatur.

Ҥ 3. Si quis de iure christianitatis ab aliquo interpellatus fuerit, de

villa Sancti Audomari alias pro iustitia exequenda, non exeat: sed in

eadem villa coram episcopo vel eius Archidiacono, vel suo presbytero,

quod iustum est clericorum, scabinorumque iudicio exequatur: nec

respondeat alicui, nisi tribus de causis; videlicet de infractura

ecclesiæ, vel atrii, de lesione clerici, de oppressione et violatione

feminæ: quod si de aliis causis querimonia facta fuerit coram iudicibus

et præposito meo hoc finiatur. Sic enim coram K. Comite et episcopo

Johanne statutum fuit.

Ҥ 4. Libertatem vero, quam antecessorum meorum temporibus habuerunt eis

concedo. Scilicet quod nunquam de terra sua in expeditionem

proficiscentur, excepto si hostilis exercitus terram Flandriæ invaserit;

tunc me et terram meam defendere debebunt.

Ҥ 5. Omnes qui Gildam eorum habent, et ad illam pertinent, et infra

cingulam villæ suæ manent, liberos omnes a teloneo facio, ad portum

Dichesmudæ et Graveningis; et per totam terram Flandriæ, eos liberos a

Sewerp facio. Apud Batpalmas teloneum, quale donant Atrebatenses, eis

constituo.

Ҥ 6. Quisquis eorum ad terram imperatoris pro negotiatione sua

perexerit, a nemine meorum hansam persolvere cogatur.

“§ 7. Si contigerit mihi aliquo tempore præter terram Flandriæ aliam

conquirere, aut si concordia pacis inter me et avunculum meum H. regem

Angliæ facta fuerit, in conquisita terra illa aut in toto regno Anglorum

eos liberos ab omni teloneo et ab omni consuetudine in concordia illa

recipi faciam.

“§ 8. In omni mercato Flandriæ si quis clamorem adversus eos

suscitaverit iudicium scabinorum de omni clamore sine duello subeant; ab

duello vero ulterius liberi sint.

Ҥ 9. Omnes qui infra murum sancti Audomari habitant et deinceps sunt

habitaturi, liberos a Cavagio hoc est a capitali censu, et de

advocationibus constituo.

“§ 10. Pecuniam eorum quæ post mortem Comitis K. eis ablata est, et quæ

propter fidelitatem quam erga me habent adhuc eis detinetur, aut infra

annum reddi faciam, aut iudicio scabinorum institiam eis fieri concedam.

“§ 11. Præterea rogaverunt regem Franciæ et Raulphum de Parona, ut

ubicumque in terram illorum venerint, liberi sint ab omni teloneo, et

traverso et passagio; quod et concedi volo.

“§ 12. Communionem autem suam sicut eam iuraverunt permanere præcipio,

et a nemine dissolvi permitto, et omne rectum rectamque iustitiam sicut

melius stat in terra mea, scilicet in Flandria, eis concedo.

“§ 13. Et sicut meliores et liberiores Burgenses Flandriæ ab omni

consuetudine liberos deinceps esse volo; nullum scoth, nullam taliam,

nullam pecuniæ suæ petitionem ab eis requiro.

Ҥ 14. Monetam meam in Sancto Audomaro unde per annum XXX libras habebam

et quidquid in ea habere debeo, ad restaurationem damnorum suorum et

gildæ suæ sustentamentum constituo. Ipsi vero Burgenses monetam per

totam vitam meam stabilem et bonam, unde villa sua melioretur,

stabiliant.

Ҥ 15. Custodes qui singulis noctibus per annum vigilantes castellum

Sancti Audomari custodiunt, et qui præter feodum suum et præbendam sibi

antiquitus constitutam in avena et caseis et in pellibus arietum,

iniuste et violenter ab unaquaque domo in eadem villa, scilicet ad

Sanctum Audomarum sanctumque Bertinum in natali domini panem unum et

denarium unum aut duos denarios exigere solent, aut pro hiis pauperum

vadimonia tollebant, nihil omnino deinceps præter feodum suum et

præbendam suam exigere audeant.

Ҥ 16. Quisquis ad Niuverledam venerit, undecumque venerit, licentiam

habeat veniendi ad Sanctum Audomarum cum rebus suis in quacunque navi

voluerit.

Ҥ 17. Si cum Boloniensium comite S. concordiam habuero, in illa

reconciliatione eos a Teloneo et Seuwerp apud Witsant et per totam

terram eius liberos esse faciam.

“§ 18. Pasturam adiacentem villæ Sancti Audomari in nemori, quod dicitur

Lo, et in paludibus et in pratis et in bruera et in Hongrecoltra, usibus

eorum, exceptâ terrâ Lazarorum, concedo, sicut fuit tempore Roberti

Comitis Barbati.

“§ 19. Mansiones quoque, quæ sunt in ministerio Advocati Sancti Bertini,

illas videlicet quæ inhabitantur, ab omni consuetudine liberas esse

volo: dabuntque singulæ denarios XII in festo Sancti Michælis, et de

brotban denarios XII et de byrban denarios XII. Vacuæ autem nihil

dabunt.

Ҥ 20. Si quis extraneus aliquem Burgensium Sancti Audomari agressus

fuerit, et ei contumeliam vel iniuriam irrogaverit vel violenter ei sua

abstulerit, et cum hac iniuria manus eius evaserit, postmodum vocatus a

castellano vel uxore eius seu ab eius dapifero, infra triduum ad

satisfactionem venire contempserit aut neglexerit; ipsi communiter

iniuriam fratris sui in eo vindicabunt, in qua vindicta si domus diruta

vel combusta fuerit, aut si quispiam vulneratus vel occisus fuerit,

nullum corporis aut rerum suarum periculum, qui vindictam perpetravit,

incurrat, nec offensam meam super hoc sentiat vel pertimescat; si vero,

qui iniuriam intulit presentialiter tentus fuerit, secundum leges et

consuetudines villæ presentialiter iudicabitur et secundum quantitatem

facti punietur; scilicet oculum pro oculo, dentem pro dente, caput pro

capite reddet.

Ҥ 21. De morte Eustachii de Stenford quicunque aliquem Burgensium

Sancti Audomari perturbaverit et molestaverit, reus proditionis et

mortis K. Comitis habeatur; quoniam pro fidelitate mea factum est,

quidquid de eo factum est; et sicut iuravi et fidem dedi, sic eos erga

parentes eius reconciliare et pacificare volo.

Ҥ 25. Hanc igitur Communionem tenendam, has supradictas consuetudines

et conventiones esse observandas fide promiserunt et sacramento

confirmaverunt: Ludovicus rex Francorum, Guillelmus comes Flandriæ,

Raulphus de Parona, Hugo Candavena, Hosto Castellanus, et Guillelmus

frater eius, Robertus de Bethuna, et Guillelmus filius eius, Anselmus de

Hesdinio, Stephanus Comes Boloniensis, Manasses Comes Gisnensis,

Galterus de Lillers, Balduinus Gandavensis, Hiuvannus frater eius,

Rogerus Castellanus Insulensis, et Robertus filius eius, Razo de Gavera,

Daniel de Tenremot, Helias de Sensen, Henricus de Brocborc, Eustachius

advocatus, et Arnulphus filius eius, Castellanus Gandavensis, Gervasius

Petrus dapifer, Stephanus de Seningaham. Confirmatum est hoc privilegium

et a Comite Guillelmo et prædictis Baronibus istis fide et sacramento

sancitum, et collaudatum anno dominicæ Incarnationis MCXXVII, XVIII Kl.

Maii, feria V^a die festo Sancti Tiburtii et Valeriani.”

II. _Additions et changemens faits à la_ Keure _précédente par le Comte

Thierri d’Alsace. 22 Août 1128._

Ҥ 1. Monetam quam Burgenses Sancti Audomari habuerant, Comiti liberam

reddiderunt eo quod eos benignius tractaret, et lagas suas eis libentius

ratas teneret: et insuper ut ceteri Flandrenses eidem sua incrementa

celerius redderent.

Ҥ 2. Teloneum vero suum ab eodem in perpetuo censu receperunt,

quotannis C solidos dando.

Ҥ 3. Si quis etiam eorum mortuo aliquo consanguineo suo, portionem

aliquam possessionis illius sibi obvenire credens et in comitatu

Flandriæ manens, cum eo, qui possessionem illam tenebit, vel partiri

infra annum neglexerit, vel eum super hoc per iudices et scabinos minime

convenerit; qui per annum integrum sine legitima calumnia tenuerit,

quiete deinceps teneat, et nulli super hoc respondeat. Si autem heres in

comitatu Flandriæ non fuerit, infra annum, quo redierit, cum possessore

agat supradicto modo: alioquin qui tenebit sine ulla inquietatione

teneat. Si autem herede aliquandiu peregre commorante, et cum redierit

portionem suam requirente, possidens se cum eo partitum esse dixerit, si

ille per quinque Scabinos probare falsum esse poterit, hereditas quæ eum

attingit ei reddetur: alioquin possidens per quatuor legitimos viros se

ei portionem suam dedisse probabit; et ita quietus erit. Quod si heres

infra annos discretionis fuerit, pater vel mater, si supervixerint, vel

qui eum manutenebit, portionem quæ illum attinget scabinis et aliis

legitimis viris infra annum obitus illius ostendat, et si eis visum

fuerit quod ille fideliter servare debeat, ei comittatur. Sin autem

iudicio et providentia illorum ita disponatur, ne heres damnum alioquod

patiatur; et cum ad annos discretionis venerit, et opportunum fuerit,

hereditate sua integre et sine aliqua diminutione investiatur.

Ҥ 4. Item si quis alicui filium suum, vel filiam in matrimonio

coniunxerit, et filius ille, vel filia sine prole obierint, ad patrem et

matrem eorum si supervixerint, si autem mortui fuerint ad alios filios

eorum, vel filios filiorum redeat hereditas quæ pertinebat ad filium vel

filiam, quos aliis matrimonio copulaverant; et viventibus patre vel

matre eorum hereditas illa cum supradictis personis tantum dividatur:

mortuis autem illis propinquiores consanguinei illam, prout iustum est,

sortiantur.

“Hanc igitur communionem tenendam, et supradictas institutiones et

conventiones esse observandas fide promiserunt et sacramento

confirmaverunt Theodoricus, Comes Flandriæ, Willelmus Castellanus Sancti

Audomari, Willelmus de Lo, Iwannus de Gandavo, Danihel de Tenramunda,

Raso de Gavera, Gislebertus de Bergis, Henricus de Broburc, Castellanus

de Gandavo, Gervasius de Brugis.—Præfati Barones insuper iuraverunt,

quod si Comes Burgenses Sancti Audomari extra consuetudines suas eiicere

et sine iudicio Scabinorum tractare vellet, se a comite discessuros et

cum eis remansuros, donec comes eis suas consuetudines integre

restitueret et iudicium Scabinorum eos subire permitteret. Actum anno

dominicæ Incarnationis MCXXVIII in octavis assumptionis Beatæ Mariæ.”

III. _Charte de donation du fonds de la Gild-halle de St. Omer aux

Bourgeois de cette ville._ 1151.

“Ego Theodoricus Dei patientia Flandrensium Comes, consensu uxoris meæ

Sibillæ, concedente ita quoque Philippo filio meo, terram in qua

Ghildhalla apud sanctum Audomarum in foro sita est, cum scopis et

adpenditiis suis tam ligneis quam lapideis, burgensibus eiusdem villæ

hereditario iure possidendam, et ad omnem mercaturam tam in appenditiis,

quam in Ghildhalla exercendam tradidi: hanc quoque libertatem eis

concessi, ut si quis in eam venerit, undecunque reus fuerit, in ipsa

domo iudici in eum manum non mittere licebit; ille autem sub cuius

custodia Ghildhalla tenetur, admonitus a iudice reum extra limen

Ghildhallæ conducens nisi fideiussione se defenderit, in præsentia

duorum scabinorum vel plurium eum iudici tradet: iudex vero eum in

potestate sua habens secundum quantitatem facti cum eo aget. Illud

quoque addidimus, quod alienus negotiator nusquam, nisi in prædicta domo

aut in appendiciis eius, vel in pleno foro merces suas vendendas exponat

aut vendat. Solis autem burgensibus in foro, in Ghildhalla, seu magis

velint, is propria domo sua, vendere liceat.

“Quoniam autem humana omnia ex rerum et temporum varietate senescunt,

sigilli mei auctoritate et subscriptorum testimonio hoc corroboravi.

Walterus Castellanus sancti Audomari, Arnoldus Comes de Gisnes, Gerardus

Præpositus, Arnulphus de Arde, Henricus Castellanus de Brübborg,

Elenardus de Sinningehem, Hugo de Ravensberghe, Baldevinus de Bailgul,

Michael Iunior, Christianus de Aria, Guido Castellanus de Bergis,

Rogerus de Wavrin, Helinus filius eius.”

IV. _Keure de Bruges._ Vers 1190.

“Hæc est lex et consuetudo quam Brugenses tenere debent a comite

Philippo instituta. Si quis alicui vulnus fecerit infra pontem sanctæ

Mariæ, infra Botrebeika, infra usque ad domum Galteri Calvi, infra usque

ad domum Lanikini carpentarii, supra terram Balduini de Prat, infra

fossatum veteris molendini, et illud veritate scabinorum cognoscatur de

quacunque re factum sit, ad domum in qua ille manet, qui vulnus

imposuit, per scabinos et per iustitiam comitis submoncatur. Qui

submonitus, si scabinis se præsentet, veritate inquisita de illo qui

vulnus fecerit per sexaginta libras forefactum emendet, et si scabini

sciunt quod vulnus non fecerit, liber et in pace remanebit. Si die quâ

submonebitur se non præsentaverit, remanebat in forefacto sexaginta

librarum, et si scabini voluerint domum eius prosternere, poterunt et in

respectum ponere, sed ex toto condonare non possunt nisi voluntate

Comitis.

“2. Si verò quis aliquem in domo suâ assiluerit, unde clamor factus sit,

scabini et iustitia domum ibunt inspicere: et si scabini poterunt

videre, assultum esse apparentem, ille de quo clamor factus est

submoneri debet; qui si scabinis se præsentaverit et illum intellexerint

assultum fecisse, LX libras amittet. Si vero cognoverint illum assultum

non fecisse, liber et in pace recedat. Si autem ad diem submonitionis

venire noluerit, domo ejus prostrata LX librarum reus erit. Quod si alii

assultui interfuerint, de quibus clamor factus non sit, si comes super

hoc veritatem scabinorum requisierit, scabini veritatem inquirere

debent, et quotquot veritate scabinorum de assultu tenebuntur,

unusquisque eorum LX librarum reus erit, ac si de eo clamor factus sit.

Si vero scabini nullum assultum agnoscere potuerunt ab ipsis super hoc

veritas est inquirenda.

“3. Qui cum armis molutis infra præfinitos terminos aliquem fugaverit,

si veritate scabinorum convincatur forisfacto librarum LX tenebitur: si

aliquis assiliatur, quidquid ipse faciat in defendendo corpus suum nullo

tenebitur forisfacto.

“4. Qui aliquem bannitum occiderit in hoc nullum facit forisfactum.

“5. Quicumque testimonio scabinorum convictus fuerit de rapina, LX lib.

de forisfacto dabit et dampnum rapinæ restituet.

“6. Qualemcunque concordiam bannitus faciat comiti, remanebit tamen

bannitus, donec viris Brugensibus ad opus castri LX solidos dederit.

“7. Qui bannitum de forefacto LX libr. hospitio susceperit, veritate

scabinorum convictus LX libras amittet.

“8. Qui aliquem fuste vel baculo percusserit, convictus a scabinis in

forisfacto X lib. incidit de quibus comes habebit V lib. Castellanus XX

sol. ille qui percussus est LX sol. et ad opus castri XX sol.

“9. Qui pugno vel palma aliquem percusserit seu per capillos acceperit

inde per scabinos convictus LX sol. dabit unde XXX solidi comitis erunt,

percussi XV sol. castallani X sol. ad opus castri V sol. Qui aliquem per

capillos ad terram traxerit sive per lutum trahendo pedibus

conculcaverit, X lib. comiti dabit, maletractato XV solidos, Castellano

X sol. et ad castrum V solidos.

“10. Qui vero alicui convitia dixerit, si testimonio duorum scabinorum

convincatur, illi cui convicia dixerit V solidos dabit, Iusticiæ XII

denarios.

“11. Qui duobus scabinis aut pluribus inducias pacis, quæ treuiæ

dicuntur, de quâlibet discordiâ dare noluerit, illud emendabit per LX

lib.

“12. Si dissensiones aut discordiæ aut guerræ aut aliquod aliud malum

inter probos viros oppidi exoriatur, unde ad aures scabinorum clamor

perveniat, salvo iure comitis, scabini illud componere et pacificare

poterunt. Qui verò compositionem vel pacem quam super hoc scabini

consolidaverint, sequi noluerit, forisfactum LX lib. incurret.

“13. Qui ea dedixerit quæ scabini in iudicio vel testimonio

affirmaverint, LX lib. amittet, et unicuique scabinorum qui ab co

dedictus erit X libras dabit.

“14. Quicumque per vim fœminam violaverit, si de eo veritate

scabinorum convincatur, eâdem pœnâ dampnabitur, quantâ a

prædecessoribus comitibus, tales malefactores dampnari solent in

Flandriâ.

“15. Quicumque per malum in scabinos manum suam immiserit, si scabini

illud testificentur, LX libras dabit.

“16. Præterea sciant omnes, quod vir de oppido Brugensi, cuiuscumque

forisfacti se reum fecerit, non amplius quam LX libr. amittere poterit,

nisi legitime per scabinos convictus fuerit de raptu, ut dictum est, vel

de latrocinio, vel de falsitate, vel nisi hominem occiderit. Qui verò

occiderit hominem, caput pro capite dabit, et omnia sua in potestate

comitis erunt absque omni contradictione, si de homicidio veritate

scabinorum teneatur.

“17. Nemo infra præfinitos terminos manens infra muros castri gladium

ferat, nisi sit mercator vel alius qui gratiâ negocii sui per castrum

transeat. Si verò castrum intraverit causâ inibi morandi, gladium extra

in suburbio dimittat. Quod si non fecerit, LX solidos et gladium

amittet. Iusticiis vero comitis et ministris earum, quia pacem castri

observare debent, nocte et die infra castrum arma ferre licebit. Viris

etiam Brugensibus gladium portare et reportare licebit, dummodo castro

exeant festinanter. Si quis autem eorum moras faciendo, vel per castrum

vagando, gladium portaverit, LX solid. et gladium amittet.

“18. Si scabini gratiâ emendationis villæ assensu iustitiæ comitis

bannum in pane et vino et cæteris mercibus constituerint, medietas eorum

quæ ex banno provenient, comitis erit, et altera medietas castellani et

oppidi.

“19. Si mercator sive alius homo extraneus ante scabinos iustitiæ causâ

venerit, si illi, de quibus conqueritur presentes sint vel inveniri

possint infra tertium diem vel saltem infra octavum, plenariam ei

scabini iustitiam faciant iuxta legem castri.

“20. Nemini in foro comitis stallos locare licebit, quod si locaverit et

veritate scabinorum super hoc convictus fuerit, LX solidos comiti dabit.

“21. Si aliquis de infracturis castri coram scabinis falsum testimonium

portaverit si scabini illud cognoverint LX libras amittet.

“22. Quando aliquis scabinus decedet, alius ei substituetur electione

Comitis non aliter.

“23. Si scabinus testimonio scabinorum parium suorum de falsitate

convictus fuerit, ipse et omnia sua in potestate Comitis erunt.

“24. Si Scabini a Comite vel a ministro Comitis submoniti, falsum super

aliqua re iudicium fecerint, veritate scabinorum Atrebatensium, sive

aliorum qui eandem legem tenent, comes eos convincere poterit; et si

convicti fuerint, ipsi et omnia sua in potestate comitis erunt. Quoties

verò super huiusmodi falsitate submoniti fuerint, nullatenus

contradicere poterunt, quin diem sibi a Comite praefixum teneant,

ubicumque Comes voluerit in Flandriâ.

“25. De omnibus verò aliis causis ad Comitem pertinentibus, Brugis in

castello vel ante castellum placita tenebunt in praesentia Comitis vel

illius quem loco suo ad iustitiam tenendam instituerit. Instituto autem

ad eius submonitionem de omnibus tanquam Comiti respondebunt, quamdiù in

hoc servitio comitis erit.

“Ad hoc nec scabini nec Brugenses aliquid addere, mutare, vel corrigere

poterunt, nisi per consilium Comitis vel illius quem loco suo ad

iustitiam tenendam instituerit.

V. _Ordonnance du comte Philippe d’Alsace, sur les attributs des Baillis

en Flandre._ Vers 1178.

“Hæc sunt puncta, quæ per universam terram suam Comes observari

præcepit.

Ҥ 1. Primo qui hominem occiderit, caput pro capite dabit.

Ҥ 2. Item baillivus Comitis poterit arrestare hominem qui forefecit

sine Scabinis donec ante Scabinos veniat, et per consilium eorum plegium

accipiat de forisfacto.

Ҥ 3. Item si baillivus volens hominem arrestare, non potuerit et

auxilium vocaverit, qui primus fuerit, et baillivum non adiuverit in

forisfacto erit, sicut Scabini considerabunt; nisi forte ostendere quis

potuerit per Scabinos quod ille qui arrestandus erat, inimicus eius sit

de mortali faidâ; et tunc sine forisfacto erit licet baillivum non

adiuverit ad capiendum suum inimicum.

Ҥ 4. Item baillivus Comitis erit cum Scabinis, qui eligent probos viros

villæ ad faciendas tallias et Assisas, sed cum talliabunt Scabini vel

Iudicia facient, vel inquisitiones veritatis, vel protractiones, non

intererit baillivus: aliis autem consiliis quæ ad utilitatem villæ

pertinebunt, baillivus intererit cum Scabinis, scriptum autem talliæ et

assisæ reddent Scabini baillivo, si postulaverit.

Ҥ 5. Item baillivus accipiet forisfactum adiudicatum Comiti per

Scabinos, ubicumque illud invenerit extra ecclesiam et ubicumque accipi

debet per Scabinos.

“§ 6. Item qui bannitum de pecuniâ receptaverit eâdem lege de pecuniâ

tenebitur quâ bannitus; et si fuerit capite bannitus qui receptatus est,

tunc receptans tenebitur de forisfacto LX lib. Quod si vir domi non

fuerit, et ejus uxor bannitum receptaverit, rediensque vir, tertiâ manu

proborum virorum iurare potuerit: quod bannitum in domam suam receptum

esse nescierit; sine forisfacto remanebit: si autem absentiâ mariti,

uxori prohibitum fuerit per Scabinos, ne bannitum receptet, de cætero

non poterit eum sine forisfacto receptare.

“§ 7. Item de quindenâ in quindenam, habet comes, vel baillivus ex eius

parte, veritatem si voluerit.

Ҥ 8. Item domus diruenda Judicio Scabinorum, post quindenam a scabinis

indultam, quandocunque Comes præceperit, aut baillivus eius, diruetur a

Communia villæ, campana pulsata per Scabinos: et qui ad diruendam domum

illam non venerit, in forisfacto erit, sicut Scabini considerabunt, nisi

talem excusationem habuerit, quæ Scabinis sufficiens videatur.

“§ 9. Item pater non poterit forisfacere domum vel rem filiorum, quæ eis

ex parte matris contingit; nec filii poterunt forisfacere rem vel domum

patris, quæ ex parte patris venit.

Ҥ 10. Item si homo per Scabinos domum suam sine scampo invadiaverit,

eam forisfacere non poterit, nisi salvo catallo eius, qui domum illam

vadet in vadio.

“§ 11. Item fugitivus de aliquâ villâ pro debito, si in aliâ villâ

inventus fuerit, arrestabitur, et ad villam, de quâ fugerat, reducetur,

et iudicium Scabinorum illius villæ subire cogetur.

“§ 12. Item si quis vulneratus fuerit, et videatur Scabinis’ quod non

sit vulneratus ad mortem, et postea de illo vulnere mortuus fuerit,

Scabini non erunt in forisfacto contra Comitem, qui minorem plegiaturam

acceperunt de eo qui cum vulneravit, quam si mortaliter fuisset

vulneratus.”

------------------

The following charters of the French communes are taken from M.

Thierry’s Lettres sur l’Histoire de France.

I. _Charte de Beauvais._—“Tous les hommes domiciliés dans l’enceinte du

mur de ville et dans les faubourgs, de quelque seigneur que relève le

terrain où ils habitent, prêteront serment à la commune. Dans toute

l’étendue de la ville, chacun prêtera secours aux autres, loyalement et

selon son pouvoir.

“Treize pairs seront élus par la commune, entre lesquels, d’après le

vote des autres pairs et de tous ceux qui auront juré la commune, un ou

deux seront créés majeurs.

“Le majeur et les pairs jureront de ne favoriser personne de la commune

pour cause d’amitié, de ne léser personne pour cause d’inimitié, et de

donner en toute chose, selon leur pouvoir, une décision équitable. Tous

les autres jureront d’obéir et de prêter main forte aux décisions du

majeur et des pairs[1036].

Footnote 1036:

Ann. de Noyon, t. ii. p. 805.

Turbulenta conjuratio facta communionis (epistolæ Ivonis Carnotensis

episcopi, apud script. rer. franc., t. xv. p. 105).

Cum primùm communia acquisita fuit, omnes Viromandiæ pares, et omnes

clerici, salvo ordine suo, omnesque milites, salvâ fidelitate comitis,

firmiter tenendam juraverunt. (Recueil des ordonnances des rois de

France, t. xi. p. 270.)

“Quiconque aura forfait envers un homme qui aura juré cette commune, le

majeur et les pairs, si plainte leur en est faite, feront justice du

corps et des biens du coupable.

“Si le coupable se réfugie dans quelque château fort, le majeur et les

pairs de la commune parleront sur cela au seigneur du château ou à celui

qui sera en son lieu; et si, à leur avis, satisfaction leur est faite de

l’ennemi de la commune, ce sera assez; mais si le seigneur refuse

satisfaction, ils se feront justice à eux-mêmes sur ses hommes.

“Si quelque marchand étranger vient à Beauvais pour le marché, et que

quelqu’un lui fasse tort ou injure dans les limites de la banlieue; si

plainte en est faite au majeur et aux pairs, et que le marchand puisse

trouver son malfaiteur dans la ville, la majeur et les pairs en feront

justice, à moins que le marchand ne soit un des ennemis de la commune.

“Nul homme de la commune ne devra prêter ni créancer son argent aux

ennemis de la commune tant qu’il y aura guerre avec eux, car s’il le

fait il sera parjure; et si quelqu’un est convaincu de leur avoir prêté

ou créance quoique ce soit, justice sera faite de lui, selon que le

majeur et les pairs en décideront.

“S’il arrive que le corps des bourgeois marche hors de la ville contre

ses ennemis, nul le parlamentera avec eux si ce n’est avec licence du

majeur et des pairs.

“Si quelqu’un de la commune a confié son argent à quelqu’un de la ville,

et que celui auquel l’argent aura été confié se réfugie dans quelque

château fort, le seigneur du château, en ayant reçu plainte, ou rendra

l’argent ou chassera le débiteur de son château; et s’il ne fait ni

l’une ni l’autre de ces choses, justice sera faite sur les hommes de ce

château.

“Si quelqu’un enlève de l’argent à un homme de la commune et se réfugie

dans quelque château fort, justice sera faite sur lui si on peut le

recontrer, ou sur les hommes et les biens du seigneur du château, à

moins que l’argent ne soit rendu.

“S’il arrive que quelqu’un de la commune ait acheté quelque héritage et

l’ait tenu pendant l’an et jour, et si quelqu’un vient ensuite réclamer

et demander le rachat, il ne lui sera point fait de réponse, mais

l’acheteur demeurera en paix.

“Pour aucune cause la présente charte ne sera portée hors de la ville.”

II. _Charter of the Commune of Laon._—“Nul ne pourra se saisir d’aucun

homme, soit libre, soit serf, sans le ministère de la justice.

“Si quelqu’un a, de quelque manière que ce soit, fait tort à un autre,

soit clerc, soit chevalier, soit marchand indigène ou étranger, et que

celui qui a fait le tort soit de la ville, il sera sommé de se présenter

en justice par-devant le majeur et les jurés, pour se justifier ou faire

amende; mais s’il se refuse à faire réparation, il sera exclu de la

ville avec tous ceux de sa famille. Si les propriétés du délinquant en

terres ou en vignes sont situées hors du territoire de la ville, le

majeur et les jurés réclameront justice contre lui, de la part du

seigneur dans le ressort duquel ses biens seront situés; mais si l’on

n’obtient pas justice de ce seigneur, les jurés pourront faire dévaster

les propriétés du coupable. Si le coupable n’est pas de la ville,

l’affaire sera portée devant la cour del’évêque, et si, dans le délai do

cinq jours, la forfaiture n’est pas reparée, le majeur et les jurés en

tireront selon leur pouvoir.

“En matière capitale, la plainte doit d’abord être portée devant le

seigneur justicier dans le ressort duquel aura été pris le coupable, ou

devant son bailli s’il est absent; et si le plaignant ne peut obtenir

justice ni de l’un ni de l’autre, il s’adressera aux jurés.

“Les censitaires ne paieront à leur seigneur d’autre cens que celui

qu’ils le doivent par tête. S’ils ne le paient pas au temps marqué, ils

seront punis selon la loi qui les régit, mais n’accorderont rien en sus

à leur seigneur que de leur propre volonté.

“Les hommes de la commune pourront prendre pour femmes les filles des

vassaux ou des serfs de quelque seigneur que ce soit, à l’exception des

seigneuries et des églises qui font partie de cet commune. Dans les

familles de ces dernières ils ne pourront prendre des épouses sans le

consentement du seigneur.

“Aucun étranger censitaire des églises ou des chevaliers de la ville ne

sera compris dans la commune que du consentement de son seigneur.

“Quiconque sera reçu dans cet commune, bâtira une maison dans le délai

d’un an, ou achetera des vignes, ou apportera dans la ville assez

d’effets mobiliers pour que justice puisse être faite, s’il y a quelque

plainte contre lui. Les main-mortes sont entièrement abolies. Les

tailles seront réparties de manière que tout homme devant taille paie

seulement quatre deniers à chaque terme et rien de plus, à moins qu’il

n’ait une terre devant taille, à laquelle il tienne assez pour consentir

à payer la taille.”

III. _Charter of the Commune of Amiens._—“Chacun gardera fidélité à son

juré et lui prêtera secours et conseil en tout ce qui est juste.

“Si quelqu’un viole sciemment les constitutions de la commune et qu’il

en soit convaincu, la commune, si elle le peut, démolira sa maison et ne

lui permettra point d’habiter dans ses limites jusqu’à ce qu’il ait

donné satisfaction.

“Quiconque aura sciemment reçu dans sa maison un ennemi de la commune et

aura communiqué avec lui, soit en vendant et achetant, soit en buvant et

mangeant, soit en lui prêtant un secours quelconque, ou lui aura donné

aide et conseil contre le commune, sera coupable de lèse-commune, et, à

moins qu’il ne donne promptement satisfaction en justice, la commune, si

elle le peut, démolira sa maison.

“Quiconque aura tenu devant témoin des propos injurieux pour la commune,

si la commune en est informée, et que l’inculpé refuse de répondre en

justice, la commune, si elle le peut, démolira sa maison et ne lui

permettra pas d’habiter dans ses limites jusqu’à ce qu’il ait donné

satisfaction.

“Si quelqu’un attaque de paroles injurieuses le majeur dans l’exercice

de sa juridiction, sa maison sera démolie, ou il paiera rançon pour sa

maison en la miséricorde des juges.

“Que nul n’ait la hardiesse de vexer au passage, dans la banlieue de la

cité, les personnes domiciliées dans la commune, ou les marchands qui

viennent à la ville pour y vendre leurs denrées. Si quelqu’un ose le

faire, il sera réputé violateur de la commune et justice sera faite sur

sa personne ou sur ses biens.

“Si un membre de la commune enlève quelque chose à l’un de ses jurés, il

sera sommé par le maire et les échevins de comparaître en présence de la

commune, et fera réparation suivant l’arrêt des échevins.

“Si le vol a été commis par quelqu’un qui ne soit pas de la commune, et

que cet homme ait refusé de comparaître en justice dans les limites de

la banlieue, la commune, après l’avoir notifié aux gens du château où le

coupable a son domicile, le saisira, si elle le peut, lui ou quelque

chose qui lui appartienne, et le retiendra jusqu’à ce qu’il ait fait

réparation.

“Quiconque aura blessé avec armes un de ses jurés, à moins qu’il ne se

justifie par témoins et par le serment, perdra le poing ou paiera neuf

livres, six pour les fortifications de la ville et de la commune, et

trois pour la rançon de son poing; mais s’il est incapable de payer, il

abandonnera son poing à la miséricorde de la commune.

“Si un homme, qui n’est pas de la commune, frappe ou blesse quelqu’un de

la commune, et refuse de comparaître en jugement, la commune, si elle le

peut, démolira sa maison; et si elle parvient à le saisir, justice sera

faite de lui par-devant le majeur et les échevins.

“Quiconque aura donné à l’un de ses jurés les noms de serf, récréant,

traître ou fripon, paiera vingt sous d’amende.

“Si quelque membre de la commune a sciemment acheté ou vendu quelque

article provenant de pillage, il le perdra et sera tenu de le restituer

aux dépouillés, à moins qu’eux-mêmes ou leurs seigneurs n’aient forfait

en quelque chose contre la commune.

“Dans les limites de la commune, on n’admettra aucun champion gagé au

combat contre l’un de ses membres.

“En toute espèce de cause, l’accusateur, l’accusé et les témoins

s’expliqueront, s’ils le veulent, par avocat.

“Tous ces articles, ainsi que les ordonnances du majeur et de la

commune, n’ont force de loi que de juré à juré: il n’y a pas égalité en

justice entre le juré et le non-juré.”

IV. _Charter of the Commune of Soissons._—“Tous les hommes habitant dans

l’enceinte des murs de la ville de Soissons et en dehors dans le

faubourg, sur quelque seigneurie qu’ils demeurent, jureront la commune:

si quelqu’un s’y refuse, ceux qui l’auront jurée feront justice de sa

maison et de son argent.

“Dans les limites de la commune, tous les hommes s’aideront

mutuellement, selon leur pouvoir, et ne souffriront en nulle manière que

qui que ce soit enlève quelque chose ou fasse payer des tailles à l’un

d’entre eux.

“Quand la cloche sonnera pour assembler la commune, si quelqu’un ne se

rend pas à l’assemblée, il payera douze deniers d’amende.

“Si quelqu’un de la commune a forfait en quelque chose, et refuse de

donner satisfaction devant les jurés, les hommes de la commune en feront

justice.

“Les membres de cette commune prendront pour épouses les femmes qu’ils

voudront, après en avoir demandé la permission aux seigneurs dont ils

relèvent; mais, si les seigneurs s’y refusaient, et que, sans l’aveu du

sien, quelqu’un prît une femme relevant d’une autre seigneurie, l’amende

qu’il paierait dans ce cas, sur la plainte de son seigneur, serait de

cinq sols seulement.

“Si un étranger apporte son pain ou son vin dans la ville pour les y

mettre en sûreté, et qu’ensuite un différend survienne entre son

seigneur et les hommes de cette commune, il aura quinze jours pour

vendre son pain et son vin dans la ville et emporter l’argent, à moins

qu’il n’ait forfait ou ne soit complice de quelque forfaiture.

“Si l’évêque de Soissons amène par mégarde dans la ville un homme qui

ait forfait envers un membre de cette commune, après qu’on lui aura

remontré que c’est l’un des ennemis de la commune, il pourra l’emmener

cette fois; mais ne le ramènera en aucune manière, si ce n’est avec

l’aveu de ceux qui ont charge de maintenir la commune.

“Toute forfaiture, hormis l’infraction de commune et la vieille haine,

sera punie d’une amende de cinq sous.”

It would be easy to add other examples of these early covenants between

the towns and their seigneurs: but enough seems to have been said, to

illustrate the line of argument adopted in the text. There is no single

point in all mediæval history of more importance than the manner in

which the towns assumed their municipal form; and none in which the

gradual progress of the popular liberties can be more securely traced.

But all these compromises imply a long apprenticeship to freedom before

the “master’s” dignity was attained: and great is the debt of gratitude

we owe to those whose sufferings and labour have enabled us to

understand and to record their struggles.

APPENDIX B.

TITHE.

The importance of this subject requires a full statement of details: the

following are all the passages in the Anglosaxon law which have

reference to this impost.

“I Æðelstán the king, with the counsel of Wulfhelm, archbishop, and of

my other bishops, make known to the reeves in each town, and beseech

you, in God’s name, and by all his saints, and also by my friendship,

that ye first of my own goods render the tithes both of live stock and

of the year’s increase, even as they may most justly be either measured

or counted or weighed out; and let the bishops then do the like from

their own property, and my ealdormen and reeves the same. And I will,

that the bishop and the reeves command it to all who are bound to obey

them, so that it be done at the right term. Let us bear in mind how

Jacob the Patriarch spoke: ‘Decimas et hostias pacificas offeram tibi;’

and how Moses spake in God’s law: ‘Decimas et primitias non tardabis

offerre Domino.’ It is for us to reflect how awfully it is declared in

the books: if we will not render the tithes to God, that he will take

from us the nine parts when we least expect; and, moreover, we have the

sin in addition thereto.” Æðelst. i. Thorpe, i. 195.

There is a varying copy of this circular, or whatever it is, coinciding

as to the matter, but differing widely in the words. Thorpe, i. 195. The

nature of the sanction is obvious: it is the old, unjustifiable

application of the Jewish practice, which fraud or ignorance had made

generally current in Europe. The tithe mentioned by Æðelstán is the

prædial tithe, or that of increase of the fruits of the earth, and

increase of the young of cattle.

The next passage is in the law of Eádmund, about 940. He says: “Tithe we

enjoin to every Christian man on his christendom, and church-shot, and

Rome-fee and plough-alms. And if any one will not do it, be he

excommunicate.” Thorpe, i. 244.

“Let every tithe be paid to the old minster to which the district

belongs; and let it be so paid both from a thane’s _inland_ and from

_geneátland_, as the plough traverses it. But if there be any thane who

on his bookland has a church, at which there is a burial-place, let him

give the third part of his own tithe to his church. If any one have a

church at which there is not a burial-place, then of the nine parts let

him give his priest what he will.... And let tithe of every young be

paid by Pentecost, and of the fruits of the earth by the equinox ... and

if any one will not pay the tithe, as we have ordained, let the king’s

reeve go thereto, and the bishop’s, and the mass-priest of the minster,

and take by force a tenth part for the minster whereunto it is due; and

let them assign to him the ninth part; and let the eight parts be

divided into two, and let the landlord seize half, the bishop half, be

it a king’s man or a thane’s.” Eádg. i. § 1, 2, 3. Thorpe, i. 262. Cnut,

i. § 8. 11. Thorpe, i. 366.

“This writing manifests how Eádgár the king was deliberating what might

be a remedy for the pestilence which greatly afflicted and decreased his

people, far and wide throughout his realm. And first of all it seemed to

him and his Witan that such a misfortune had been merited by sin, and by

contempt of God’s commandments, and most of all by the diminution of

that _need-gafol_ (necessary tax or rent or recognitory service) which

men ought to render to God in their tithes. He looked upon and

considered the divine usage in the same light as the human. If a geneát

neglect his lord’s _gafol_, and do not pay it at the appointed time, it

may be expected, if the lord be merciful, that he will grant forgiveness

of the neglect, and accept the _gafol_ without inflicting a further

penalty. But if the lord, by his messengers, frequently remind him of

his _gafol_, and he be obdurate and devise to resist payment, it is to

be expected that the lord’s anger will so greatly increase, that he will

grant his debtor neither life nor goods. Thus is it to be expected that

our Lord will do, through the audacity with which the people have

resisted the frequent admonition of their teachers, respecting the

_need-gafol_ of our Lord, namely our tithes and church-shots. Now I and

the archbishop command that ye anger not God, nor earn either sudden

death in this world, nor a future and eternal death in hell, by any

diminution of God’s rights; but that rich and poor alike, who have any

tilth, joyfully and ungrudgingly yield his tithes to God, according to

the ordinance of the witan at Andover, which they have now confirmed

with their pledges at Wihtbordesstán. And I command my reeves, on pain

of losing my friendship and all they own, to punish all that will not

make this payment, or by any remissness break the pledge of my witan, as

the aforesaid ordinance directs: and of such punishment let there be no

remission, if he be so wretched as either to diminish what is God’s to

his own soul’s perdition, or in the insolence of his mood to account

them of less importance than what he reckoneth as his own: for that is

much more his own which lasteth to all eternity, if he would do it

without grudging and with perfect gladness. Now it is my will that these

divine rights stand alike all over my realm, and that the servants of

God who receive the moneys which we give to God, live a pure life: that

so, through their purity, they may intercede for us with God; and that I

and my thanes direct our priests to that which the shepherds of our

soul’s teach us, that is, our bishops, whom we ought never to disobey in

any of those things which they declare to us in God’s behalf; so that

through the obedience with which we obey them for God’s sake, we may

merit that eternal life for which they fit us by their doctrine and the

example of their good works.” Eádgár, Suppl. Thorpe, i. 270 _seq._ Such

are the views of Eádgár under the influence of Dúnstán, Æðelwold and

Oswald.

“And let God’s dues be willingly paid every year; that is, plough-alms

fifteen days after Easter, the tithe of young by Pentecost, and of the

fruits of the earth by Allhallows’ Mass, and Rome-fee by St. Peter’s

mass, and lightshot thrice a year.” Æðelr. v. § 11; vi. § 17; ix. § 9.

Cnut, i. § 8.

“Et ut detur de omni caruca denarius vel denarium valens, et omnis qui

familiam habet, efficiat ut omnis hirmannus suus det unum denarium; quod

si non habeat, det dominus eius pro eo. Et omnino Thaynus decimet totum

quicquid habet.” Æðelr. viii. § 1. Thorpe, i. 336.

“Et praecipimus, ut omnis homo, super dilectionem Dei et omnium

sanctorum, det Cyricsceattum et rectam decimam suam, sicut in diebus

antecessorum nostrorum stetit, quando melius stetit; hoc est, sicut

aratrum peragrabit decimam aeram. Et omnis consuetudo reddatur super

amicitiam Dei ad matrem nostram aecclesiam cui adiacet. Et nemo auferat

Deo quod ad Deum pertinet, et praedecessores nostri concesserunt.”

Æðelr. viii. § 4. Thorpe, i. 338.

“And with respect to tithe, the king and his witan have chosen and

decreed, as right it is, that one third part of the tithe which belongs

to the church, go to the reparation of the church, and a second part to

God’s servants there; the third part to God’s poor and needy men in

thraldom.” Æðelr. ix. § 6. Thorpe, i. 342.

“And be it known to every Christian man that he pay to the Lord his

tithe justly, ever as the plough traverses the tenth field, on peril of

God’s mercy, and of the full penalty, which king Eádgár decreed; that

is; If any one will not justly pay the tithe, then let the king’s reeve

go, and the mass-priest of the minster or the landlord, and the bishop’s

reeve, and take by force the tenth part for the minster to which it is

due, and assign to him the ninth part: and let the remaining eight parts

be divided into two; and let the landlord seize half, and the bishop

half, be it a king’s man or a thane’s.” Æðelr. ix. § 7, 8. Thorpe, i.

342. Cnut, i. § 8. Thorpe, i. 366. Leg. Hen. I. xi. § 2. Thorpe, i. 520.

“De omni annona decima garba sanctae aecclesiae reddenda est. Si quis

gregem equarum habuerit, pullum decimum reddat; qui unam solam vel duas,

de singulis pullis singulos denarios. Qui vaccas plures habuerit,

vitulum decimum; qui unam vel duas, de singulis obolos singulos. Et si

de eis caseum fecerit, caseum decimum, vel lac decima die. Agnum

decimum, vellus decimum, caseum decimum, butirum decimum, porcellum

decimum. De apibus, secundum quod sibi per annum inde profecerit.

Quinetiam de boscis et pratis, aquis, molendinis, parcis, vivariis,

piscariis, virgultis, ortis, negotiationibus, et de omnibus similiter

rebus quas dederit Dominus, decima reddenda est; et qui eam detinuerit,

per iusticiam sanctae aecclesiae et regis, si necesse fuerit, ad

redditionem cogatur. Haec praedicavit sanctus Augustinus, et haec

concessa sunt a rege, et confirmata a baronibus et populis: sed postea,

instigante diabolo, ea plures detinuerunt, et sacerdotes qui divites

erant non multum curiosi erant ad perquirendas eas, quia in multis locis

sunt modo iiii vel iii aecclesiae, ubi tunc temporis non erat nisi una;

et sic inceperunt minui.” Eádw. Conf. § vii. viii.

Such are all the passages in the Anglosaxon Laws, directing the levy and

distribution of the tithe.

APPENDIX C.

TOWNS.

The strict meaning of _burh_, appears to be _fortified place_ or

_stronghold_. It can therefore be applied to a single house or castle,

as well as to a town. There is a softer form _byrig_, which in the sense

of a town can hardly be distinguished from _burh_, but which, as far as

I know, is never used to denote a single house or castle. Rome and

Florence, and in general all large towns, are called Burh or Byrig. This

is the widest term.

_Port_ strictly means an enclosed place, for sale and purchase, a

market: for “Portus est conclusus locus, quo importantur merces, et inde

exportantur. Est et statio conclusa et munita.” (Thorpe, i. p. 158.)

_Wíc_ is originally _vicus_, a vill or village. It is strictly used to

denote the country-houses of communities, kings or bishops.

_Ceaster_ seems universally derived from _castrum_, and denotes a place

where there has been a Roman station. Now every one of these conditions

may concur in one single place, and we accordingly find much looseness

in the use of the terms: thus,

London is called Lundenwíc[1037], Hhoðh. § 16. Chron. 604: but

Lundenburh or Lundenbyrig, Chron. 457, 872, 886, 896, 910, 994, 1009,

1013, 1016, 1052. And it was also a port, for we find its geréfa, a

port-geréfa. Again York, sometimes Eoferwíc, sometimes Eoferwíc-ceaster

(Chron. 971) is also said to be a burh, Chron. 1066. Dovor is called a

burh, Chron. 1048; but a port, Chron. 1052. So again Hereford, in Chron.

1055, 1056, is called a port, but in Chron. 1055 also a burh. Nor do the

Latin chroniclers help us out of the difficulty; on the contrary, they

continually use the words _oppidum_, _civitas_, _urbs_ and even _arx_ to

denote the same place.

-----

Footnote 1037:

“Forum rerum venalium Lundenwíc.” Vit. Bonif. Pertz, Mon. ii. 338.

-----

The Saxon Chronicle mentions the undernamed cities:—

Ægeles byrig, now Aylesbury in Bucks. Chron. Sax. 571, 921.

Acemannes ceaster or Baðan byrig, often called also Æt baðum or Æt hátum

baðum, the Aquae Solis of the Romans and now Bath in Somerset. This town

in the year 577 was taken from the British. The Chronicle calls it

Baðanceaster: see also Chron. 973.

Ambresbyrig, now Amesbury, Wilts. Chron. 995.

Andredesceaster. Anderida, sacked by Ælli. Chron. 495. Most probably

near the site of the present Pevensey: see a very satisfactory paper by

Mr. Hussey, Archæol. Journal, No. 15, Sept. 1847.

Baddanbyrig, now Badbury, Dorset. Chron. 901.

Badecanwyl, now Bakewell, Derby, fortified by Eádweard. Chron. 923.

Florence says he built and garrisoned a town there: “urbem construxit,

et in illa milites robustos posuit.” an. 921.

Banesingtún, now Bensington, Oxf. Chron. 571, 777.

Bebbanburh, now Bamborough in Northumberland. This place, we are told,

was first surrounded with a hedge, and afterwards with a wall. Chron.

642, 926, 993. Florence calls it “urbs regia Bebbanbirig.” an. 926.

Bedanford, now Bedford. There was a burh here which Eádweard took in

919: he then built a second burh upon the other side of the Ouse. Chron.

919. Florence calls it “urbem.” an. 916.

Beranbyrig. Chron. 556.

Bremesbyrig. At this place Æðelflǽd built a burh. Chron. 910. Florence

says “urbem.” an. 911: perhaps Bromsgrove in Worcestershire, the Æt

Bremesgráfum of the Cod. Dipl. Nos. 183, 186.

Brunanburh, Brunanbyrig, and sometimes Brunanfeld: the site of this

place is unknown, but here Æðelstán and Eádmund defeated the Scots.

Chron. 937.

Brycgnorð, Bridgenorth, Salop. Here Æðelflǽd built a burh. Chron. 912:

“arcem munitam.” Flor. an. 913.

Bucingahám, now Buckingham. Here Eádweard built two burhs, one on each

side of the Ouse. Chron. 918. Florence calls them “munitiones.” an. 915.

Cantwarabyrig, the city of Canterbury. Dorobernia, ciuitas

Doruuernensis, the metropolis of Æðelberht’s kingdom in 597. Beda, H. E.

lib. i. c. 25. In the year 1011 Canterbury was sufficiently fortified to

hold out for twenty days against the Danish army which had overrun all

the eastern and midland counties, and was then only entered by

treachery. Flor. Wig. an. 1011. I have already noticed both king’s

reeves and port-reeves, the ingang burhware and cnihta gyld of

Canterbury. There can be little doubt that king, archbishop, abbot and

corporation had all separate jurisdictions and rights in Canterbury: see

Chron. 633, 655, 995, 1009, 1011.

Cirenceaster, now Cirencester in Gloucestershire, the ancient

Durocornovum. Chron. 577, 628.

Cissanceaster, now Chichester, the Roman Regnum. Chron. 895.

Cledemúða. Here Eádweard built a burh. Chron. 921.

Colnceaster, now Colchester in Essex, the first Roman Colonia, destroyed

by Boadicea. In 921 Colchester was sacked by Eádweard’s forces, and

taken from the Danes, some of whom escaped over the _wall_. In the same

year Eádweard repaired and fortified it. Chron. 921. “murum illius

redintegravit, virosque in ea bellicosos cum stipendio posuit.” Flor.

918.

Coludesburh, Coldingham. Chron. 679.

Cyppanham, Chippenham, Wilts. Chron. 878.

Cyricbyrig, a city built by Æðelflǽd. Flor. 916. Cherbury.

Deóraby, Derby, one of the Five Burgs taken by Æðelflǽd from the Danes.

Chron. 917, 941. A city with gates. Flor. 918. “civitas.” Flor. 942.

Dofera, Dover in Kent. Chron. 1048, 1052. There was a fortified castle

on the cliff, which in 1051 was seized by the people of Eustace, count

of Boulogne, against the town. Flor. Wig. 1051.

Dorceceaster, Dorchester, Oxon. Chron. 954, 971. For some time a

bishop’s see, first for Wessex, which was afterwards removed to

Winchester: afterwards for Leicester.

Dorceceaster, Dornwaraceaster, Dorchester, Dorset. Chron. 635, 636, 639.

Eádesbyrig, a place where Æðelflǽd built a burh. Chron. 914. Florence

says a town. an. 915. Eddisbury, Cheshire?

Eligbyrig, Ely in Cambridgeshire. Chron. 1036.

Egonesham, now Eynesham, Oxon. Chron. 571.

Eoforwíc, Eoforwíc ceaster, now York; Kair Ebrauc, Eboracum; the seat of

an archbishop, a bishop, and again an archbishop. It seems to have been

always a considerable and important town. In the tenth century it was

one of the seven confederated burgs, which Æðelflǽd reduced. The

strength however which we should be inclined to look for in a city,

which once boasted the name of _altera Roma_, is hardly consistent with

Asser’s account of it. Describing the place in the year 867, he says:

“Praedictus Paganorum exercitus ... ad Eboracum ciuitatem migravit, quae

in aquilonari ripa Humbrensis fluminis[1038] sita est.” After stating

that Ælla and Osberht, the pretenders to the Northumbrian crown, became

reconciled in presence of the common danger, he continues: “Osbyrht et

Ælla, adunatis viribus, congregatoque exercitu Eboracum oppidum adeunt,

quibus advenientibus Pagani confestim fugam arripiunt, et intra urbis

moenia se defendere procurant: quorum fugam et pavorem Christiani

cernentes, etiam intra urbis moenia persequi, et murum frangere

instituunt: quod et fecerunt, non enim tunc adhuc illa civitas firmos et

stabilitos muros illis temporibus habebat. Cumque Christiani murum, ut

proposuerant, fregissent, etc.[1039]” We may infer from Asser himself

that the Saxon mode of fortification. was not strong: speaking of a

place in Devonshire, called Cynuit (which he describes as _arx_), he

says: “Cum Pagani arcem imparatam atque omnino immunitam, nisi quod

moenia nostro more erecta solummodo haberet, cernerent, non enim

effringere moliebantur, quia et ille locus situ terrarum tutissimus est

ab omni parte, nisi ab orientali, sicut nos ipsi vidimus, obsidere eam

coeperunt[1040].” York however continued to be an important town. It was

retaken by Æðelflǽd who subdued the Danes there; and again by Eádred in

950. At this time it appears to have been principally ruled by its

archbishop Wulfstán. For York, see Chron. 971, 1066, etc.

-----

Footnote 1038:

He clearly considers the northern branch of the Humber, which we now

call the Ouse, to be the continuation of the river.

Footnote 1039:

Vit. Ælfr. an. 867.

Footnote 1040:

Vit. Ælfr. an. 878.

-----

Exanceaster, now Exeter, the Isca Damnoniorum or Uxella, of the Romans.

Chron. 876, 894, 1003. As the Saxon arms advanced westward, Exeter

became for a time the frontier town and market between the British and

the men of Wessex: in the beginning of the tenth century there appears

to have been a mixed population. But at that period[1041] Æðelstán

expelled the British inhabitants, and fortified the town: he drove the

Cornwealhas over the Tamar, and made that their boundary, as he had the

Wye for the Bretwealas. William of Malmesbury tells us: “Illos (i. e.

Cornewalenses) impigre adorsus, ab Excestra, quam ad id temporis aequo

cum Anglis iure inhabitarunt, cedere compulit: terminum provinciae suae

citra Tambram fluvium constituens, sicut aquilonalibus Britannis amnem

Waiam limitem posuerat. Urbem igitur illam, quam contaminatae gentis

repurgio defaecaverat, turribus munivit, muro ex quadratis lapidibus

cinxit[1042]. Et licet solum illud, ieiunum et squalidum, vix steriles

avenas, et plerumque folliculum inanem sine grano producat, tamen pro

civitatis magnificentia, et incolarum opulentia, tum etiam convenarum

frequentia, omne ibi adeo abundat mercimonium, ut nihil frustra

desideres quod humano usui conducibile existimes[1043].” Thus situated,

about ten miles from the sea, Exanceaster could not fail to become an

important commercial station; the Exa being navigable for ships of

considerable burthen, till in 1284, Hugh Courtenay interrupted the

traffic, by building a weir and quay at Topsham. It is probable that

Æðelstán placed his own geréfa in the city. But in the year 1003, queen

Emme Ælfgyfu seems to have been its lady; for it is recorded that

through the treachery of a Frenchman Hugo, whom she had made her reeve

there, the Danes under Svein sacked and destroyed the city, taking great

plunder[1044]. It was afterwards restored by Cnut; but appears to have

been still attached to the queens of England, for after the conquest we

find it holding out against William, under Gýð, the mother of Harald.

-----

Footnote 1041:

Probably in 926.

Footnote 1042:

The author of the Gesta Stephani, a contemporary of Malmesbury,

declares that the city was “vetustissimo Cæsarum opere murata:” and

that its castle was “muro inexpugnabili obseptum, turribus Cæsarianis

incisili calce confectis firmatum,” p. 21.

Footnote 1043:

Will. Malm. Gest. Reg. lib. ii. § 134 (Hardy’s Ed. vol. i. p. 214);

see also Gest. Pontif. lib. ii. § 95 (Hamilton’s Ed. p. 201).

Footnote 1044:

Chron. Sax. 1003.

-----

Exanmúða, now Exmouth. Chron. 1001.

Genisburuh, now Gainsborough. Chron. 1013, 1014.

Glæstingaburh or Glæstingabyrig, now Glastonbury, Som. Urbs Glastoniae,

Chron. 688, 943.

Gleawanceaster, now Gloucester; Kair glou, and the Roman Glevum. Urbs

Gloverniae, Glocestriae. A fortified city of Mercia. Chron. 577, 918.

Hæstingas, now Hastings in Kent. A fortification, and probably at one

time the town of a tribe so called. Chron. 1066. It was reduced by Offa,

and probably ruined in the Danish wars of Ælfred and Æðelred.

Hagustaldes hám or Hagstealdeshám, now Hexham in Northumbria: the

ancient seat of a bishopric. Chron. 685.

Hamtún, now Southampton. Chron. 837.

Hamtún, now Northampton, _quod vide_.

Heanbyrig, now Hanbury in Worcest. Chron. 675.

Heortford, now Hertford. Chron. 913. _urbs_. Flor. 913.

Hereford, now Hereford. Chron. 918, 1055, 1066.

Hrofesceaster, Durocobrevis, Hrofesbreta, now Rochester; a bishop’s see

for West Kent, probably once the capital of the West Kentish kingdom: a

strong fortress. Chron. 604, 616, 633, 644. Asser. 884.

Huntena tún, now Huntingdon. Originally, as its name implies, a town or

enclosed dwelling of hunters; but in process of time a city. Chron. 921.

_civitas_. Flor. 918.

Judanbyrig, perhaps Jedburgh. Chron. 952.

Legaceaster, Kairlegeon, now Chester, a Roman city. Chron. 607;

deserted, Chron. 894; restored, Chron. 907. Flor. 908.

Legraceaster, now Leicester. Chron. 918, 941, 943. _civitas_. Flor. 942.

Lindicoln, the ancient Lindum, now Lincoln, the capital city of the

Lindissi; a bishop’s see: then one of the five or seven burhs. Chron.

941. _civitas_. Flor. 942.

Lundenbyrig, Lundenwíc, Londinium, now London. The principal city of the

Cantii; then of the Trinobantes; Kair Lunden, Troynovant. Locally in

Essex, but usually subject to Mercian sovereignty. Towards the time of

the conquest more frequently the residence of the Saxon kings, and scene

of their witena gemóts. A strongly fortified city with a fortified

bridge over the Thames connecting it with Southwark, apparently its Tête

de pont. Chron. 457, 604, 872, 886, 896, 910, 994, 1009, 1013, 1016,

1052.

Lygeanbyrig, now Leighton buzzard. Chron. 571.

Maidulfi urbs, Meldumesbyrig, now Malmesbury in Wilts. Flor. 940.

Mameceaster, now Manchester: “urbem restaurarent, et in ea fortes

milites collocarent.” Flor. 920.

Mealdun, now Maldon in Essex. Chron. 920, 921. _urbs_; rebuilt and

garrisoned by Eádweard. Flor. 917.

Medeshámstede: afterwards Burh, and from its wealth Gyldenburh: now

Peterborough. Chron. 913.

Merantún, now Merton in Oxfordshire. Chron. 755.

Middeltún, Middleton in Essex, a fortress built by Hæsten the Dane.

Chron. 893.

Norðhamtún, more frequently Hámtún only, now Northampton: a town or

“Port,” burnt by the Danes under Svein. Chron. 1010.

Norðwíc, now Norwich, a burh, burned by Svein. Chron. 1004.

Oxnaford, Oxford: a burh in Mercia, taken into his own hands by Eádweard

on the death of Æðelflǽd. The burh was burnt by Svein. Chron. 1009.

Possentesbyrig. Chron. 661. ? Pontesbury, co. Salop.

Rædingas, now Reading: a royal vill, but, as many or all probably were,

fortified. Asser. 871.

Runcofa, now Runcorn, _urbs_, Flor. Wig. 916.

Sandwíc, now Sandwich, a royal vill, and harbour, whose tolls belonged

to Canterbury. Chron. 851.

Scaroburh, now Salisbury, the ancient Kairkaradek. Chron. 552.

Scærgeat, now Scargate, built by Æðelflǽd. Chron. 912; _arx munita_,

Flor. Wig. 913.

Sceaftesbyrig, Shaftsbury, the seat of a nunnery founded by Ælfred.

Chron. 980, 982.

Sceobyrig, now Shoebury in Essex; a fort was built there in 894 by the

Danes. Chron. 894.

Seletún, perhaps Silton in Yorkshire. Chron. 780.

Snotingahám, now Nottingham: the British Tinguobauc,or _urbs

speluncarum_. Asser. 868; Chron. 868, 922, 923, 941. There were two

towns here, one on each side the river. Flor. Wig. 919, 921; _civitas_,

Flor. Wig. 942.

Soccabyrig, probably Sockburn in Durham. Chron. 780.

Stæfford, now Stafford, a vill of the Mercian kings, fortified by

Æðelflǽd. Chron. 913; _arx_, Flor. Wig. 914.

Stamford in Lincolnshire. Chron. 922, 941; _arx_ and _civitas_, Flor.

Wig. 919, 942.

Sumertún, now Somerton in Oxfordshire, taken by Æðelbald of Mercia from

Wessex. Chron. 733.

Súðbyrig, now Sudbury in Suffolk. Chron. 797.

Swanawíc, probably Swanwick, Hants. Chron. 877.

Temesford, Tempsford in Bedfordshire, a Danish fortress and town. Chron.

921.

Tofeceaster, Towchester in Northampton. Chron. 921; _civitas_, Flor.

Wig. 918; walled with stone, Flor. ibid.

Tomaworðig, now Tamworth in Staffordshire; a favourite residence of the

Mercian kings. Chron. 913, 922; fortified by Æðelflǽd; _urbs_, Flor.

Wig. 914.

Wæringawíc, now Warwick. Chron. 914; _urbs_, Flor. Wig. 915.

Weardbyrig, now Warborough, Oxford; _urbs_, Flor. Wig. 916.

Wigingamere, probably in Hertfordshire. Chron. 951; _urbs_, Flor. Wig.

918; _civitas_, ibid.

Wigornaceaster, Worcester, a fortified city. Chron. 922, 1041.

Wihtgarabyrig, now Carisbrook. Chron. 530, 544.

Wiltún, Wilton in Wiltshire. Chron. 1008.

Wintanceaster, Winchester, the capital of Wessex, a fortified city.

Chron. 643, 648.

Withám, now Witham in Essex; a city and fortress. Chron. 913; Flor. Wig.

914.

Ðelweal, Thelwall in Cheshire, a fortress and garrison town. Chron. 923;

Flor. Wig. 920.

Ðetford, now Thetford in Norfolk; a fortress and city. Chron. 952, 1004.

It is not to be imagined that this list nearly exhausts the number of

fortresses, towns and cities extant in the Saxon times. It is only given

as a specimen, and as an illustration of the averments in the text. The

reader who wishes to pursue the subject, will find the most abundant

materials in the Index Locorum appended to Vol. VI. of the “Codex

Diplomaticus Aevi Saxonici;” and to this I must refer him for any ampler

information.

APPENDIX D.

CYRICSCEAT.

I do not think it necessary to repeat here the arguments which I have

used elsewhere[1045], to show that Cyricsceat has nothing whatever to do

with our modern church-rates, or that these arose from papal usurpation

very long after the Norman Conquest. I can indeed only express my

surprise that any churchman should still be found willing to continue a

system which exposes the dignity and peace of the church to be disturbed

by any schismatic who may see in agitation a cheap step to popularity.

But as the question has been put in that light, it may be convenient for

the sake of reference to collect the principal passages in the laws and

charters which refer to the impost. They are the following:—

“Be cyricsceattum. Cyricsceattas sýn ágifene be Seint Martines mæssan.

Gif hwá ðæt ne gelǽste, sý he scyldig LX scill. and be twelffealdum

ágyfe ðone cyricsceat.” Ine, § 4; Thorpe, i. 104.

“Be cyricsceattum. Cyricsceat mon sceal ágifan tó ðæm healme and to ðæm

heorðe ðe se man on bið tó middum wintra.” Ine, § 61; Thorpe, i. 140.

“And ic wille eác ðæt míne geréfan gedón ðæt man ágyfe ða cyricsceattas

and ða sáwlsceattas tó ðám stowum, ðe hit mid rihte tó gebyrige.”

Æthelst. i.; Thorpe, i. 196.

“Be teoðungum and cyricsceattum. Teoðunge we bebeódað ǽlcum cristenum

men be his cristendóme, and cyricsceat, and ælmesfeoh. Gif hit hwá dón

nylle, sý he amansumod.” Eádm. i. § 2; Thorpe, i. 244.

“Be cyricsceat. Gif hwá ðonne þegna sý, ðe on his bóclande cyrican

hæbbe, ðe legerstowe on sý, gesylle he ðonne þriddan dǽl his ágenre

teoðunge intó his cyrican. Gif hwá cyrican hæbbe, ðe legerstow on ne sý,

ðonne dó he of ðǽm nygan dǽlum his preost ðæt ðæt he wille. And gá ylc

cyricsceat intó ðæm ealdan mynster be ǽlcum frigan (h)eorðe.” Eádgár, i.

§ 1, 2; Thorpe, i. 262.

“Neádgafol úres drihtnes, ðæt sýn úre teoðunga and cyricsceattas.”

Eádgár, Supp. § 1; Thorpe, i. 270.

“And cyricsceat tó Martinus mæssan.” Æðelr. vi. § 18; Thorpe, i. 320.

“And cyricsceat gelǽste man be Martinus mæssan, and seðe ðæt ne gelǽste,

forgilde hine mid twelffealdan, and ðám cyninge CXX scill.” Æðelr. ix. §

11; Thorpe, i. 342.

“Et præcipimus, ut omnis homo super dilectionem dei et omnium sanctorum

det cyricsceattum et rectam decimam suam, sicut in diebus antecessorum

nostrorum stetit, quando melius stetit; hoc est, sicut aratrum

peragrabit decimam acram.” Æðelr. viii. § 4; Thorpe, i. 338.

“De ciricsceatto dicit vicecomitatus quod episcopus, de omni terra quæ

ad ecclesiam suam pertinet, debet habere, in die festivitatis sancti

Martini, unam summam annonæ, qualis melior crescit in ipsa terra, de

unaquaque hida libera et villana; et si dies ille fractus fuerit, ille

qui retinuerit reddet ipsam summam, et undecies persolvat; et ipse

episcopus accipiat inde forisfacturam qualem ipse debet habere de terra

sua. De ciricsceatto de Perscora dicit vicecomitatus quod illa ecclesia

de Perscora debet habere ipsum ciricsceattum de omnibus ccc hidis,

scilicet de unaquaque hida ubi francus homo manet, unam summam annonæ,

et si plures habet hidas, sint liberæ; et si dies fractus fuerit, in

festivitate sancti Martini, ipse qui retinuerit det ipsam summam et

undecies persolvat, abbati de Perscora; et reddat forisfacturam abbati

de Westminstre quia sua terra est.” Cart. Heming. i. 49, 50. “De

ciricsceate. Dicit vicecomitatus quod de unaquaque hida terræ, libera

vel villana, quæ ad ecclesiam de Wirecestre pertinet, debet episcopus

habere, in die festo sancti Martini unam summam annonæ, de meliori quæ

ibidem crescit; quod si dies ille non reddita annona transierit, qui

retinuit annonam reddat, undecies persolvet, et insuper forisfacturam

episcopus accipiet, qualem et sua terra habere debet.” Ibid. 1, 308.

-----

Footnote 1045:

A Few Historical Remarks upon the supposed Antiquity of Church-rates.

Ridgway, 1836.

-----

The only instance that I can find of this impost being noticed in the

Ecclesiastical Laws, or Recommendations of the Bishops and Clergy, is in

the Canons attributed to Eádgár:—

“And we enjoin, that the priests remind the people of what they ought to

do to God for dues, in tithes and in other things; first plough-alms, xv

days after Easter; and tithe of young, by Pentecost; and of fruits of

the earth, by All Saints; and Róm-feoh (Peter-pence) by St. Peter’s

Mass; and Cyricsceat by Martinmass[1046].”

-----

Footnote 1046:

Thorpe, ii. 256.

-----

“Nunc igitur praecipio et obtestor omnes meos episcopos et regni

praepositos, per fidem quam Deo et mihi debetis, quatenus faciatis, ut

antequam ego Angliam veniam, omnia debita, quae Deo secundum legem

antiquam debemus, sint soluta, scilicet eleemosynae pro aratris, et

decimae animalium ipsius anni procreatorum, et denarii quos Romæ ad

sanctum Petrum debemus, sive ex urbibus sive ex villis, et mediante

Augusto decimae frugum, et in festivitate sancti Martini _primitiae

seminum_ ad ecclesiam sub cuius parochia quisque est, quae Anglice

_Circesceat_ nominantur[1047].”

-----

Footnote 1047:

Epist. Cnut. Flor. Wig. an. 1031.

-----

Oswald’s grants often contain this clause: “Sit autem terra ista libera

omni regi nisi aecclesiastici censi.” See Codex Dipl. Nos. 494, 498,

515, 540, 552, 558, 649, 680, 681, 682. But sometimes the amount is more

closely defined: thus in No. 498, two bushels of wheat. In No. 511 we

have this strong expression: “Free from all _worldly service_

(weoruldcund þeówet), except three things, one is cyricsceat, and that

he (work) with all his might, twice in the year, once at mowing, once at

reaping.” And in No. 625 he repeats this, making the land granted free,

“ab omni _mundialium_ servitute tributorum, exceptis sanctae Dei

aecclesiae necessitatibus atque utilitatibus.” Again, “Et semper

possessor terrae illius reddat tributum aecclesiasticum, quod ciricsceat

dicitur, tó Pirigtúne; et omni anno unus ager inde aretur tó Pirigtúne,

et iterum metatur.”—Cod. Dipl. No. 661. “Sit autem hoc praedictum rus

liberum ab omni _mundiali_ servitio, ... excepta sanctae Dei basilicae

suppeditatione ac ministratione.”—Ibid. No. 666.

The customs of Dyddanham[1048] impose upon the gebúr the duty of finding

the cyricsceat to the lord’s barn, but whether because the lord was an

ecclesiastic does not clearly appear.

-----

Footnote 1048:

Now Tidenham in Gloucestershire, near the point where the Wye falls

into the Severn, nearly 2° 36´ west longitude from Greenwich.

-----

The important provisions of Denewulf’s and Ealhfrið’s charters have been

sufficiently illustrated in the text.

After the conquest, Chirset or Chircettum, as it is called, was very

irregularly levied: it appears to have been granted occasionally by the

lords to the church, but no longer to have been a general impost: and

nothing is more common than to find it considered as a set-off against

other forms of rent-paying, on lay as well as ecclesiastical land. If

the tenant gave _work_, he usually paid no chircet: if he paid chircet,

his amount of labour-rent was diminished: a strong evidence, if any more

were wanted, that cyricsceat has nothing whatever to do with

church-rate.

THE END.

Printed by Taylor and Francis, Red Lion Court, Fleet Street.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

Transcriber’s Note

On p. 152, a single footnote anchor is in the text (360); however two

notes appear at the bottom of the page. The first is unnumbered, and the

second has no anchor in the text. The unnumbered note is an accurate

reference to p. 753 of the 1854 German edition of Jacob Grimm’s _Deutsch

Rechalterthümer_ (2nd volume), and was obviously intended as footnote 1.

The second note, numbered ‘2’ in the original (“Gloss. _in voc._

Grafio.”), has no anchor and no obvious reference. The two notes have

simply been combined.

On p. 294, the last line of the page (‘the extermination of its

inhabitants, is the only re-’) was obviously misplaced to the top of the

page. It has been placed in the intended position.

Minor lapses in the consistency of punctuation in citations have been

corrected with no further mention.

Other errors deemed most likely to be the printer’s have been corrected,

and are noted here. The references are to the page and line in the

original, not counting any embedded tables. Where a third reference is

employed, the reference is to the line within the designated footnote

(e.g. 166.1.1 refers to the first line in the first footnote on p. 166,

as printed).

4.1.10 Abergavenny, lat. 51° 49´ N., long. 3° 2´[ W.]> Added.

4.1.44 between Perth and Inverness[,] Added.

27.5 of becoming familiar w[t/i]th the views Replaced.

35.4.34 God’s church and all the Ch[r]istian people Inserted.

35.4.22 which archbishop D[u/ú]nstán delivered Replaced.

46.2.2 were simil[i]arly circumstanced Removed.

48.2 the time of Æðelr[æ/ǽ]d (990-995) Replaced.

50.1.4 unless the king pardon him.[”] Added.

51.2.4 that he could not forfeit.[”] Added.

52.2.27 sceleribus[ ]semet[ ]ipsum condempn[ ]avit Spaces

added.

102.3.19 p. 154[,/.] Replaced.

152.19 there cannot be the sligh[t]est connection. Inserted.

155.3 in connexion with judic[i]al functions Inserted.

157.12 In a prece[e]ding chapter Removed.

158.1.3 Wulfsige preóst sc[i/í]rigman Replaced.

162.21 before Æðelríc beca[em/me] sheriff Transposed.

203.2.3 head of the church in his dominio[u/n]s Inverted.

204.5 encircled by an _[abbatis]_ of timber _sic_:

abatis

233.2.47 witnessed by all the scírþ[e]genas in Hampshire Removed.

238.10 the Campus Ma[d]ius of Charlemagne Restored.

260.7.1 Chron. Sa[s/x]. an. 1048. Replaced.

273.1.16 [‘]nihil profici patientia _sic_

273.1.24 the duties laid upon the[n/m] Replaced.

295.24 injure its forti[fi]cations Inserted.

310.9 we may more famil[i]arly term Inserted.

451.9 the eager credul[i]ty which they showed Inserted.

526.17 to meet the ‘gemot’ by the king’[s] command Added.

543.15 Tous les hommes habitant dans l’enc[ie/ei]nte Transposed.

543.30 un[e] femme relevant d’une autre seigneurie Added.