156
THE SAXOXS IN ENGLAND.
[book i.
The lot, share, or, as we may call it, τeμevoc of
the king, though thus divided, was extensive, and
comprised many times the share of the freeman.
We may imagine that it originally, and under or-
dinary circumstances would be calculated upon the
same footing as the wergyld ; that if the life of the
king was seventy-two times as valuable as that of
the ceorl, his land would be seventy-two times as
large ; if the one owned thirty, the other would
enjoy 2160 acres of arable land. But the comi-
tatus offers a disturbing force, which, it will here-
after be seen, renders this sort of calculation nuga-
tory in practice ; and the experience of later periods
clearly proves the king to have been a landowner
in a very disproportionate degree. In addition to
the produce of his own lands, however, the king
was entitled to expect voluntary gifts in kind,
naturalia, from the people, which are not only di-
stinctly stated by Tacitus1 to have been so given,
but are frequently referred to by early continental
historians2. In process of time, when these volun-
tary gifts had been converted into settled payments
or taxes, further voluntary aids were demanded,
upon the visit of a king to a town or country, the
l “ Mos est Civitatibus, ultro ас viritim conferee principibus, veɪ ar-
ɪneɪɪtorum, vel frugum, quod pro honore acceptum, etiam Decessitatibus
siɪbvenit. Gaudent praecipue tinɪtimarum gentium donis, quae non modo
a singulis, sed publice ɪnittuntur : electi equi, magna arma, phalerae,
torquesque. Iametpecuniamacciperedocuimus." Germ. xv.
2 “ In die autem Martis campo secundum antiquam Consuetudinem
ɪ dona illis regibus a populo Offerebantur, et ipse rex sedebat in sella
regia, Cireumstante exercitu, et maior doɪnus coram eo.” an. 753. Annal.
Laurishamenses Minores (Pertz, Monumenta, i. 116). See other in-
stances in Grimm’s Deutsche Rechtsalterthumer, p. 245, etc.
CH. Vl.]
THE KING.
157
marriage of a princess, or of the king himself, and
other public and solemn occasions ; from which in
feudal times arose the custom of demanding aids
from the tenants to knight the lord’s son or marry
his daughter.
Another source of the royal revenue was a share
of the booty taken in war, where the king and the
freemen served together. The celebrated story of
Clovis and the Soissons vase1, proves that the king
received his portion by lot, as did the rest of his
army; but there is no reason to doubt that his
share as much exceeded that of his comrades, as
his wergyld and landed possessions were greater
than theirs.
As conservator of the public peace, the king was
entitled to a portion of the fines inflicted on cri-
minals, and the words in which Tacitus mentions
this fact show that he was in this function the re-
presentative of the whole state2: it is a prerogative
derived from his executive power. And similar to
this is his right to the forfeited lands of felons,
which, if they were to be forfeited, could hardly be
placed in other hands than those of the king, as
representative of the whole state3.
ɪ Greg. Turon, ii. 27.
2 “ Sed et Ievioribus delictis, pro modo poenarum, equorum pecorum-'
que numéro convicti multantur, pars ɪnultae régi vel civitati, pars ipsi
qui Vindicatur vel propinquis eius exsolvitur.” Germ. xii.
3 “ Unam mansam quam fur quidam ante possederat, a rege cum
triginta ɪuaneusis auri emit.” Cod. Dipl. No. 580. Bishop Denewulf
had leased lands to a relative named Ælfred, for a fixed rent. “ Is
equrdem insiρiens adulterεns stuprum, propriam religiose ρactatam
abominanβ, scortum dιligens, Iibidinose commisit. Quo reatu omni
substantia peculiali recte privatus est, et praefatum rus ab eo abs-