174
THE SAXONS IN ENGLAND.
[book I.
prince ; but he could not be the possessor of a free
Hide, and consequently bound to service in the
general fyrd, or to suit in the folcmot : he might
have wealth, and rank and honour, be powerful
and splendid, dignified and influential, but he could
not be free : and if even the freeman so far forgot
the inherent dignity of his station as to carry him-
self (for his e,8el I think he could not carry) into the
service of the prince,—an individual man, although
a prince, and not as yet the state, or the represen-
tative of the state,—can it be doubted that the re-
munerative service of the chief would outweigh the
barren possession of the farmer, or that the festive
board and adventurous life of the castle would soon
supply excuses for neglecting the humbler duties
of the popular court and j udicature ? Even if the
markmen razed him from their roll, and committed
his e⅞>el to a worthier holder, what should he care,
whom the liberality of his conquering leader could
endow with fifty times its worth ; and whose total
divorce from the vulgar community would probably
be looked upon with no disfavour by him who had
already marked that community for his prey"? Nor
could those whom the gesilδ in turn settled upon
Iandswhich were not within the general mark-juris-
diction, be free markmen, but must have stood to-
wards him in somewhat the same relation as he
stood to his own chief. Upon the plan of the larger
household, the smaller would also be formed : the
same or similar conditions of tenure would prevail ;
and the services of his dependants he was no doubt
bound to hold at the disposal of his own lord, and
CH. VII.]
THE NOBLE BY SERVICE.
175
to maintain for his advantage. We have thus, even
in the earliest times, the nucleus of a standing
army, the means and instruments of aggrandize-
ment both for the King and the praetorian cohorts
themselves ; practised and delighting in battle, ever
ready to join in expeditions which promised adven-
ture, honoui’ or plunder, feasted in time of peace,
enriched in time of war ; holding the bond that
united them to their chief as more sacred or strin-
gent than even that of blood1, and consequently
ready for his sake to turn their arms against the
free settlers in the district, whenever his caprice, his
passion or his ambition called upon their services.
In proportion as his power and dignity increased
by their efforts and assistance, so their power and
dignity increased ; his rank and splendour were re-
flected upon all that surrounded him, till at length
it became not only more honourable to be the un-
free chattel of a prince, than the poor free culti-
vator of the soil, but even security for possession
and property could only be attained within the
compass of their body. As early as the period
when the Frankish Law was compiled, we find the
great advantage enjoyed by the Comes over the
Free Salian or Ripuarian, in the large proportion
borne by his wergyld, in comparison with that of
the latter2.
The advantage derived by the community from
ɪ Ælfred excepts the lord, while he defines the cases in which a man
may give armed assistance to his relath e. The right of private feud
is not to extend to that sacred obligation of fealty. Leg. Ælf. § 42.
a Leg. Salic. Tit. Ivii. cap. 1, 2. Leg. Rip. Iiii. cap. 1, 2.