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