VI. ant denied the whole. They ordered him to purge CHA P. himself by the requifite oath; but as neither he nor they who ought to have fworn with him could do this, the cause was adjudged against him, and this judgment was afterwards confirmed at Cambridge. As many curious particulars of their legal cuftoms appear in these narrations, we will add another. WLSTAN forfeited fome land, which the king had purchased and fold to a bishop. About this time a great gemot was appointed at Witlesford, of the ealderman and his brothers, and the bishop and the widow of Wlftan, and all the better counfellors of the county of Cambridge. When they all had fat down, Wenfius arofe and claimed the land, and faid that he and his relations had been unjustly deprived of the land, as he had received for it no confideration, neither in land or money. Having heard this plea, the ealderman asked if there were any one prefent who knew how Wlftan had acquired that land. Alfric of Wicham an fwered, that Wlftan had bought that land of Wenfius for eight pounds, and he appealed to the eight hundreds on the fouth fide of Cambridge as witneffes. He said Wlftan gave Wenfius the eight pounds in two payments, the last of which he had fent by Leofwin, fon of Adulf, who gave it to him in a purse before the eight hundreds where the land lay. Having heard these things they adjudged the land to the bishop, and they directed Wenfius or his relations to look to the heirs of Wlftan if he wanted more money for his lands. BOOK CHAP. VII. Their Denominations of Land. N the charters we find various nam IN quantities of land conveyed. These caffati, manfæ, manentes, aratrum, fulun THE caffati, manfæ, the manentes, the and the fulunga, appear to have exp fame meaning which the word hide figni THAT the caffati and the manfæ wer appears from several grants; thus, ten in another part of the fame grants called tos'; and thirty manfas, thirty caffatos caffatos, when mentioned again, are style fos or manfas 3. IN other grants hides are ftated as fy with caffatos. Thus, ten caffatos are, i grant, called ten hides, and twent twenty hides". In other grants the lar in the first part of the document, is enu hides, is afterwards termed caffatos. hides fifty caffatos, feven hides feven five hides five caffatos". THE grants alfo identify the expreffic and manfi with hide.. A charter of 94 twenty manfæ, "quod anglice dicit "hides "." In another, feven hides are ΙΟ feven manfæ 10. One manfa is one hide ", and CHAP. In one grant, the expreffions fourteen manfiunculæ, and forty jugeribus, are identified with fourteen hides and forty acres "3. 13 ALL these authorities prove, that the hide, the caffatus, and the manfa, were fimilar defignations of land. In one ancient MS. there is a note in the margin, in the fame hand-writing with the body, thus, "No. qd. hide caffati et manfe idem funt 14" 99 OTHER grants identify the fulunga with the preceding. Thus, one conveys fex manfas quod Cantigenæ dicunt fix fulunga ". Another mentions the land of three aratrorum as three fulong 16. Another fays twelve manfas " quod Cantigenæ dicunt "twelf fulunga "." Two caffati are alfo called two fulunga1. THE hide feems to have contained one hundred and twenty acres. In one hiftorical narration of ancient grants an hide is fo defined: "unam hy"dam per fexies viginti acras ";" two hides are afterwards mentioned as twelve times twenty arable 19 IN Domesday-book we find hides and carucatæ mentioned 21 Carucata implies fo much land as 21 10 MS. Claud. c. 9. p. 130. 12 Ib. p. 143. 182, 183. 14 MS. Claud. c. 9. p. 113. "Heming. Chart. p. 150. 15 MS. Chart of the late Mr. Aftle, No. 23. 16 lb. No. 7. 17 Ib. No. 24, and Thorpe Reg. Roff. 189. MS. Chart Aug. 2. p. 68. 20 Ib. 475. 481. 19 3 Gale Script. p. 472. "The word is ufually abbreviated. In p. 77, and fome other places, it occurs at full length, VII. III. BOOK a single plough could work during a year 22. This ancient furvey alfo contains acres, leucæ, and quarentenæ, among its terms for expreffing the quantities of land. THE following measures of land occur in the Anglo-Saxon laws; three mila, three furlong, 3 æcera bræde, 9 fota, 9 fcefta munda, 9 bere corna 23, express the extent to which the king's peace was to reach. 22 See Du Cange Gloff. Med. Lat. I. p. 859. BOOK IV. The Government of the Anglo-Saxons. CHAP. J. The King's Election and Coronation. I. N treating of the Anglo-Saxon Government, it c HA P. will be proper to begin with the cyning, or king, who, though he did not concentrate in him-1 felf the defpotifm of an Eaftern monarch, was yet elevated far above the reft of the nation in dignity, property, and power. THE witena-gemot may then be confidered, and afterwards the official dignities respected by the nation. This part of our fubject will be clofed by a review of the contributions levied from the people. THE first cynings of the Anglo Saxons feem to have been their war-kings, continued for life, and` the crown was not hereditary, but elective. Many authors, both in the Anglo-Saxon times and after-wards, when speaking of their acceffions, exprefs them in terms which fignify election. Thus, the contemporary author of Dunftan's life fays of Edwin: "after him arose Eadwig, son of king Ed"mund, in age a youth, and with little of the pru"dence of reigning; elected, he filled up the num"ber and names of the kings over both people." |