262
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
him humbly surrender his arms and his goods to
his friends, to hold for him, and let him remain for
forty days in prison in a king’s tun ; let him there
suffer as the bishop may direct him ; and let his
kinsmen feed him, if he have himself no food ; but
if he have no kinsmen, or no food, let the king’s
reeve feed him.” Again if a man is accidentally
slain while hewing wood with others, his kinsmen
are to have the tree, and remove it from the land
within thirty days, otherwise it shall go to the
owner of the wood1. The most important case of
all, however, is that of a divided responsibility be-
tween the kinsmen and the gegyldan, which Ælfred
thus regulates : “ If one that hath no paternal kin-
dred fight and slay a man, if then he have maternal
relatives, let them pay a third part of the wer, his
gyldbrethren a third part, and for a third part let
him flee. If he have no maternal relatives, let his
gyldbrethren pay half, and for half let him flee.
And if any one slay such a man, having no rela-
tives, let half be paid to the king, half to the gyld-
brethren2.” It was also the principle of Ælfred’s
law, recognized but not introduced by him, that
no man should have the power of alienating from
his mægseeaft, booklands whose first acquirer had
entailed them upon the family,—a principle which
ʌ Ælf. § 13. Thorpe, i. 70.
a t∙ Gif fæderenmæga mægleâs mon gefeohte and mon ofslea, and
‰nne gif he médrenmægas hæbbe, gylden Sà sæs weres J>riddan dæl,
J>riddan dæl Sa gegyldan, for priddan da'l he fled. Gif he médrenmægas
nage, gylden Sa gegyldan healfne, for healfne he fled. Gif mon swa ge-
râdne mon ofslea, gif he mægas nage, gylde mon healfne cyninge,
healfne Sam gegyldan,” Ælfr. § 27, 28. Thorpe, i. 78, 80.
CH. IX.]
THE TITHING AND HUNDRED.
263
tends, as far as human means seem capable of en-
suring it, to ensure its permanent maintenance1.
The reciprocal rights and duties of the mægburh
were similarly understood by Eadweard : he enacted
that if a malefactor were deserted by his relatives,
and they refused to make compensation for him,
he should be reduced to serfage ; but in this case
his wergyld was to abate from the kindred2. And
JESelstan distinctly holds the mægS responsible
for their kinsman. He says, “ If a thief be put
into prison, let him remain there forty days, and
then let him be ransomed for 120 shillings, and let
the kindred go surety for him that he shall cease
from theft for the future. And if after that he
steal, let them pay for him with his wergyld, or
replace him in prison3.” But he goes further than
this, and imposes upon them the duty of finding a
lord for him, or exposing him to the penalty of
outlawry : “ And we have ordained respecting those
Iordless men of whom no law can be got, that thé
kindred be commanded to domicile him to folk-
right, and find him a lord in the folkmote ; and if
then they will not or cannot produce him at the
term, let him thenceforth be an outlaw, and let
whoso cometh at him slay him4:” a provision which
’ Ælfr. § 41. Thorpe, i. 88.
2 Eadw. ii. § 9. √E‰Ist. v. cap. 12, § 2. Thorpe, ɪ. ] 64, 242.
3 Λ⅛elst. i. § 1,^6; v. cap. 1, § 4, cap. 9. Thorpe, i. 198, 202, 228,
238.
Æftelst. i. § 2. Thorpe, i. 200. Upon the just principle that “He
may die without law who refuseth to live by law.” “ Utlagatus et wey-
vɪata capita gerunt Iupina [wolves’ heads] quae ab omnibus impune po-
seront amputari : ɪnerito enim sine lege porire debent, qui secundum
θgem vivere recusant.” Flet. lib. i. cap. 27, § 12, etc.