44
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
If the nature of an early Teutonic settlement,
which has nothing in common with a city, be duly
considered, there will appear an obvious necessity
for the existence of a mark, and for its being main-
tained inviolate. , Every community, not sheltered
by walls, or the still firmer defences of public law,
must have one, to separate it from neighbours and
protect it from rivals : it is like the outer pulp that
surrounds and defends the kernel. No matter how
small or how large the community,—it may be
only a village, even a single household, or a whole
state,—it will still have a Mark, a space or boun-
dary by which its own rights of jurisdiction are
limited, and the encroachments of others are kept
off1. The more extensive the community which
vuntur : eoque oɪnnɪs Superstitio respicit, tanquam inde initia gentis,
ibi regnator omnium deus, cetera Subiecta atque parentia.” Germ. 39.
Again : “ Apud Naharvalos antiquae Teligionis Iucus ostenditur.”
Ibid. 43. Without asserting the existence of the Mark among the
Greeks with all the peculiar German characteristics, we may borrow
from them an illustration and definition of its nature. Between the
territories of the Athenians and Megareans lay a tract of land, the cul-
tivation of which by the latter formed the pretext Orjustification of the
excommunication launched against them by “Olympian” Pericles,
which ultimately led to the Peloponesian war, and the downfal of
Athens. The Athenians, Thucydides tells us, refused to rescind their
intemperate decree, iπικaλ<njvτes ιπtpγaσlav M∈γαpeυσι τηs yηs τηs
Itpas κal τηs aopltrrov (Lib. i. 139), where the Scholiast explains aopi-
στoυ by ov σιrtιpoμevr∣s. Sacred and not divided into plots for cultivation
by the plough, is the exact definition of a Teutonic Mark. Compare
χolpιos vaπη (silva porcina) between Laconia and Messenia. Paus. iv. 1.
In the legend of St. Gu'δlac, the saint is said to occupy the desert wilder-
ness, mearclond, the mark (Codex Exoniensis, p. 112,1.16), and this is
accurately defined as ɪdel ∙j æmen, étîelrihte feor, empty and uninha-
bited, in which there were no rights of property. Ibid. p. 115. 1. 9.
1 Caesar appears to have understood this. Hesays: “ Civitatibus
maxima Iaus est, quam Iatissimas circum se vastatis Iinibus Solitudines
CH. II.]
THE MARK.
46
is interested in the Mark, the more solemn and
sacred the formalities by which it is consecrated
and defended ; but even the boundary of the pri-
vate man’s estate is under the protection of the
gods and of the law. “Accursed,” in all ages
and all legislations, “ is he that removeth his
neighbour’s landmark.” Even the owner of a pri-
vate estate is not allowed to build or cultivate to
the extremity of his own possession, but must leave
a space for eaves1. Nor is the general rule abro-
gated by changes in the original compass of the
communities ; as smaller districts coalesce and be-
come, as it were, compressed into one body, the
smaller and original Marks may become obliterated
and converted merely into commons, but the public
mark will have been increased upon the new and
extended frontier. Villages tenanted by Heardingas
or Modingas may cease to be separated, but the
larger divisions which have grown up by their union,
Meanwaras, Mægsetan or Hwiccas2 will still have
a boundary of their own ; these again may be lost
in the extending circuit of Wessex or Mercia ; till
habere. Hoc proprium virtutiβ existimant, expulsos agris fiɪɪitumos
cedere, neque quemquam prope audere Consistere : siɪnul hoc se fore
tutiores arb⅛antur, repentinae incursionis timoré sublato.” This is
true, but in the case of most settlements the necessity of maintaining
extensive pasture-grounds must have made itself felt at a very early
period.
ɪ Efese. Goth. Ubiswa. The name for this custom was Yfesdrype,
Eavesdrip. In a charter of the year 868 it is said : “ And by the cus-
tom (folces folcriht) two feet space only need be left for eavesdrip on
this land.” Cod. Dipl. No. 296. In Greece the distances were solemnly
regulated by law : see Plut. Solon, cap. 23.
2 The people in the hundreds of East and West Meon, Hampshire;
ɪɑ Herefordshire; and in Worcester and Gloucester.