The name is absent

tury, to release the kindred from the consequences
of faeh‰ ; he thus commences his secular laws :

“ Eadmund the king makes known to all the
people, old and young, that are in his dominion,
what I have deliberated with the counsel of my
Witan, both ordained and laic. First how I might
best promote Christianity. Then seemed it to us
first most needful that we should most firmly pre-
serve peace and harmony among ourselves, through-
out all my dominion. Both I, and all of us, hold
in horror the unrighteous and manifold fightings
that exist among ourselves : we have therefore de-
creed : If henceforth any one slay another, let him
bear the feud himself, unless by the assistance of
his friends, and within twelve months, he make
amends with the full wer, be he born as he may.
But if his kindred forsake him, and will not pay for
him, it is my will that all the kindred be unfah [out
of feud] except the actual perpetrator ; provided
that they do not give him either food or protection.
But if afterwards any of the kindred harbour him,
he shall be liable in all that he possesses to the
king¹ and bear the feud with the kindred, because
they had previously forsaken him. But if any of
the other kindred take vengeance upon any man
save the actual perpetrator, let him be foe to the
king and all his friends, and forfeit all that he
has 2.”

¹ A forfeiture of this kind is recorded in the Codex Diploinaticus,
Nos. 714, 719, 1304. A lady had harboured her brother, while au out-
law for murder. Her lands were all forfeited and given to the king.

² Eadnr. Sec. Leg. § 1. Thorpe, i. 246.

It is probable that this right thus reserved to the
kindred of deserting their guilty kinsman, was not
often exercised, nevertheless the subsequent laws
of Æftelred and Cnut¹ may be considered to have
been understood in connexion with it, and subject
to its limitations.

The law of Eadweard the elder (about a.d. 900 to
915), regulates the mode of proceeding when both
parties are willing to forego the feud, upon the esta-
blished principles of compensation. Hesays²: “The
wergyld of a twelfhynde man is twelve hundred
shillings. The wergyld of a twyhynde man is two
hundred shillings. If any one be slain, let him be
paid for according to his birth. And it is the law,
that, after the slayer has given pledge for the wer-
gyld, he should find in addition a werboτh, accord-
ing to the circumstances of the case ; that is, for
the wergyld of a twelfhynde man, the werborh
must consist of twelve men, eight by the father’s,
four by the mother’s side. When that is done,
let the king’s protection be set up ; that is, all, of
either kindred, laying their hands together upon one
weapon, shall pledge themselves to the mediator,
that the king’s protection shall stand. In twenty-
one days from that day let one hundred and twenty
shillings be paid as Iiealsfang, at a twelfhynde man’s
wergyld. The healsfang belongs to the children,
brothers and paternal uncles : that money belongs
to no kinsman except such as are within the de-
grees of blood. Twenty-one days after the healsfang

¹ See above, cap. ix. p. 264.

’ E4d. and Gu^,δ. § 13. Thorpe, i. 174.

τ 2

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