172 THB SAXONS IN ENGLAND. [book i.
When Cwichelm of Wessex sent an assassin to cut
off Eaduuini of Northumberland, that prince was
saved by the devotion of his thane Lilia, who threw
himself between, and received the blow that was
destined for his master ; in the words of Beda1 :
uQuod cum videret Lilla minister régis amicissi-
mus, non habens scutum ad manum quo regem a
nece defenderet, mox interposuit corpus suum ante
ictum pungentis ; sed tanta vi hostis ferrum infixit,
ut per corpus militis occisi etiam regem vulneraret.”
Again we learn that in the year 786, Cyneheard,
an ætheling of Wessex, who had pretensions to the
crown, surprised the king Cynewulf at the house
of a paramour at Merton, and there slew him. He
proffered wealth and honours to the comités of the
king, which they refused, and with small numbers
manfully held out till every one had fallen. On the
following morning a superior force of the king’s
thanes came up : to them again the ætheling offered
land and gold, but in vain : he was slain on the
spot with all his own comités, who refused to desert
him in his extremity. This is the account given
of these facts in the words of the Saxon Chronicle
itself2:
And Sa gebead he him heora agen-
ne dom feos and Iondes, gif hie
him &s rices uSon, and him cyS-
de, Sæt heora mtêgas him mid
w⅛ron, Sa Se him from noldon.
And Sa cw½don hie, Saethim næ-
nig ɪngeg Ieofra n<5ere Sonne heora
hlaford, and hie næfre his banan
And then he offered them their
own desire of money and land, if
they would grant him the king-
dom, and he told them that their
own relatives were with him, who
would not desert him. Then said
they, that no relative was dearer
to them than their lord, and that
1 Hist. Ecc. ii. 9.
2 Chron. Sax. an. 755.
си. vu.]
THE NOBLE BY SERVICE.
173
folgian noldon. And δ∣i budon hie
heora m½gum βjet hie him gesunde
from e<'∣don. And hie ewðedon,
■Sæt Sæt ilce heora geferum gebo-
den w<j6γθ βe &r mid ваш Cyninge
wiéron ; «æt hie hie «æs ne on-
munden, Son ma ве eôwre geferan
βe mid ват cyninge ofslægene
wtéron.
they never would follow his mur-
derer. And then they offered
their relatives that they should
leave him, with safety for them-
selves : but they said, that the
same offer had been made to their
own comrades who at first were
with the king : that they paid no
more attention to it, than your
comrades who were slaughtered
with the king.
Æthelweard, Florence of Worcester, and Henry of
Huntingdon all follow the chronicle, which in some
details they apparently translate. William of
Malmesbury seems to adopt the same account, but
adds a few words which have especial reference
to this portion of the argument1 : “quorum (г. e.
comitum) qui maximus aevo et prudentia Osricus,
caeteros Cohortatus ne песет domini sui in insignem
et perpetuamsuam ignominiam inultam dimitterent,
districtis gladiis coniuratos irruit.”
It is obvious that from this intimate relation be
tween the prince and the gesi,δ must arise certain
reciprocal rights and duties, sanctioned by cus-
tom, which would gradually form themselves into a
code of positive law, and ultimately affect the state
and condition of the freemen. In the earliest de-
velopment of the Comitatus, it is clear that the
idea of freedom is entirely lost ; it is replaced by
the much more questionable motive of honour, or
to speak more strictly, of rank and station. The
comes may indeed have become the possessor of
land, even of very large tracts2, by gift from his
‘ Gest. Reg. i. § 42.
2 Beowulf, 1. 6984 seq.