278 THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i.
various circumstances have tended to introduce
changes into the early and simple order1.
Salian Franks.—Ingenuus, 200 sol. : litus, 100
sol. : ingenuus in hoste 600 : Iitus in hoste, 300 sol. :
ingénuus in truste 1800 : Iitus in truste, 900 sol.
Thus if engaged in actual warfare, the value of
the freeman and the emancipated serf was tripled ;
and if in the trust or immediate service of the king,
their respective values were multiplied nine times.
It is probable that the Ripuarian Franks adopted
the same numbers.
Angli et Werini.—Liber 200 sol. : adaling (no-
ble) 600 : Iibertus (freedman) 80 sol.
Law of the Saxons.—Probably, the freeman 240
shillings : noble 1440 : freedman 120 shillings.
Law of the Bavarians.—The duke 960 shillings :
the ducal family of the Agilolfings, 640 : the other
five noble races, 320 shillings : the simple free man
160 shillings.
Law of the Alamanni.—Primus (the first rank of
the nobles) 240 shillings : medianus (the second
rank of nobles) 200 : minofledus (the free man)
160.
Law of the Burgundians.—Noble 300 shillings :
lower noble (mediocris) 200 : freeman (minor) 150.
Law of the Frisians.—Noble 80 shillings : free-
man 53⅜ ; freedman 26f shillings.
Law of the Visigoths.—Freeman (between the
years of twenty and fifty) 300 shillings : freedman
150.
l The following numbers are taken from Grimm, Rechtsalt. p. 272.
CH. X.]
FÆ'HDE. WEKGYLD.
279
In the North, 100 silfrs was the wergyld of the
freeman, and there is no account of the jarl’s. The
Old Swedish laws generally assign 40 marks ; this
is the reckoning of the Upland, Sudermanland,
and Eastgothland laws. The Westgothland law has
39 marks ; the Jutish 54 ; and the Gutalag, three
marks of gold.
The wergyld of the clergy is slightly different :
among the Salic Franks, deacon 300, priest 600,
bishop 900 shillings. A late addition to the Ri-
puarian law computes,—clericus 200, subdeacon
400, deacon 500, priest 600, bishop 900.
This is sufficient to give a general outline of the
system : it will be observed that these continental
computations give no reckoning for the king. Be-
yond doubt they were for the most part settled after
the royal power had become so fully developed as
to cast aside all traces of its original character and
nature.
The Anglosaxon equivalents for these computa-
tions are by no means clear ; nor, as far as we can
judge, are they altogether consistent. It is probable
that they varied not only in the several Anglosaxon
kingdoms, but were also subject to change at va-
rious periods, as the relative value of life and pro-
duce altered. The Kentish law which names only
the eorl and ceorl, as the two classes of free men,
does not give us the exact amount of their wer-
gylds, but it supplies us with some data by which
perhaps an approximation may be made to it. In
ÆSelberht’s law 2, 5, 8) the king’s mundbyrd
or protection is valued at fifty shillings, the eorl’s