A. D. 763-64. THIS winter was fo fevere for its c HAP. now and froft, as to have been thought unparallel ed. The froft lafted from the firft of October to February. Moft of the trees and shrubs perished by the exceffive cold 3. 793. A GREAT famine and mortality 32. 799. VIOLENT tempeft, and numerous shipwrecks in the British ocean 33. 807-8. A VERY mild and peftilential winter 34. 820. FROM exceffive and continual rains, a great mortality of men and cattle enfued. The harvest was spoilt: Great inundations prevented the autumnal sowing 35 821. A DREADFUL winter followed. The froft was so long and fevere, that not only all the smaller rivers, but even the largest in Europe, as the Seine, the Elbe, the Rhine, and the Danube, were fo frozen, that for above thirty days waggons paffed over them as if over bridges 36. 823. THE harvests devastated by hail. A terrible pestilence among men and cattle 37. 824. A DREADFUL and long winter. Not only animals, but many of the human fpecies, perished by the intenseness of the cold 38. S1 Simeon Dunelm, p. 105. Ann. Aftron. ap. Ruberi, p. 18. Sigeb. Gembl. p. 551. Sim. Dun. p. 112. 34 Adelmi Benedict. p. 49. 33 Ibid. 115. 5 Ibid. p. 422. Ann. Aftron. p. 46. 35 Ibid. p. 421, Annales, * Adel. B. 425. Sigeb. Gemb. 561. Ann. Fuld. 6 Bouquet's Recueil, p. 208. apud Ruberi, p. 49. I. BOOK III. 832. THIS year began with exceffive ra froft fucceeded fo fudden and intense, that roads were nearly impaffable by horses 39. 834. GREAT ftorms and exceffive rain 40. 851. SEVERE famine on the continent 41. 869. GREAT famine and mortality in En 874. A SWARM of locufts laid wafte t vinces of France. A famine fo dreadful fo that, in the hyperbolical language of the nearly a third part of the population perishe 875. A LONG and inclement winter, fu with unusual falls of fnow. The froft lafte the first of November to the end of March 913. A SEVERE winter. 956. A VERY mortal peftilence **. 976. A SEVERE famine in England. from 1st November to end of March. 986. A GREAT mortality amongst cattle land 45. 987. A DREADFUL flux and fever in En Annales Ruberi, 56. Adel. Bened. 463, 4° Annales Ruberi, 58. Sigeb. Gerbl. apud Pistorium, p. 565. 42 Affer, p. 20. 43 Ibid. 568. Gembl. 569 Aimoini de geftis Fran. p. 489. 44 Regino Chron. p. 74. 79. 45 Sax. Chron. 123. 125. Sim. Dun. 160. Sig. G Flor. Wig. and Sim. Dun. 161. unhealthy and unfruitful. Great drought and fa- c HA P. mine; much fnow and rain; and no fowing 47. 1005 A GREAT and dreadful famine in England. 1006. THE fame over all Europe 48. 1014. GREAT fea flood. 49 1016. GREAT hail, thunder, and lightning ". 1022. EXTREME heat in the fummer. 1039. A SEVERE winter. 1041. INCLEMENT feafons all the year, and unproductive; and great mortality amongst the cattle so. 1043-44. A DREADFUL famine in England and the continent. A fefter of wheat fold for above fixty pennies S1. 1047. AN uncommon fall of fnow. Trees broken by it 52. 1048. EARTHQUAKE at Worcester, Derby, and other places; and a great mortality 53. Of the Anglo-Saxon husbandry we may remark, that Domesday furvey gives us fome indications that the cultivation of the church lands was much fupe 47 Lamb. Schaff. p. 158. Sigeb. Gembl. 589. 48 Sim. Dun. 165. 49 Sax. Chron. 146. Sig. Gembl. 591. Lamb. Schaff. 158. 50 Sig. Gembl. 93. "Sax. Chron. 157. Sig. Gembl. 596. The MS. Claud. c. 9. mentions that the fextarius of wheat fold for five fhillings, p. 129. Henry of Huntingdon fays the fame, adding, that a fextarius of wheat used to be the burthen of one horfe, P. 365 5- Sim. Dun. 180. Sig. Gembl. 597. $3 Sax. Chron. 183. I. III. of any other order of f have much less wood upon them, and of pafture; and what they had app fmaller and more irregular pieces; wh dow was more abundant, and in mo diftributions. Their Proprietorship in Land and Tenures. W II. HEN the Anglo-Saxons established them- c HA P. felves in Britain, a complete revolution in the poffeffion of landed property muft have taken place, fo far as it concerned the perfons of the proprietors. They fucceeded by the fword. All the chieftains of the octarchy had many years of warfare to wage, before they could extort the occupation of the country. In fuch fierce affaults, and fuch desperate resistance, the largest part of the proprietary body of the Britons must have perifhed. WHAT fyftem of tenures the Anglo-Saxon conquerors established will be best known from the language of their grants. Some antiquaries have promulged very inaccurate ideas on this fubject; and we can only hope to escape error by confulting the documents, and studying the legal phrafes of the Anglo Saxon period. WE find the land diftinguifhed in their laws by various epithets. We there meet with boc-lande, gafole land, folc land, bifceopa land, thegne's land, neat land, and frigan earthe 54. The proprietors of land are called dryhtne hlaforde, agende or land hlaforde, and land agende ". The occupiers of 55 54 Wilkins Leges Sax. p. 43. 47, 49, 65. 76. $ Ib. p. 2, 10, 11. 15. 21. 8. 58. 63. |