Tracts written by John Selden of the Inner-Temple, Esquire ; the first entituled, Jani Anglorvm facies altera, rendred into English, with large notes thereupon, by Redman Westcot, Gent. ; the second, England's epinomis ; the third, Of the original of ecclesiastical jurisdictions of testaments ; the fourth, Of the disposition or administration of intestates goods ; the three last never before extant.

CHAP. III. (Book 3)

The Saxon Customes and Laws (except what is in Lambard's Archaeonomy) during their Govern∣ment, until the Normans.

ITALY had at length so much to do in defence of her self, that she could hardly afford help to others. Gothick incursions grew so vio∣lent and dangerous, the Picts and Scots were as troublesome to the Bri∣tains, who desiring aid of the Romans, were in their expectations fru∣strate: To provide therefore some other way (Vortigern being then King) Martial Succour against the Neighbour violence of the Northern People of this Island was requested, and obtained from Germany. Thence hither issued Saxons, Jutes (some will have the old name Vites) and Angles: which differed more in name, than Nation, and are in good Authors but Synonymies of the same Countrey-people. These in pro∣cess of time, contrary than the Britains first hoped, established to them∣selves in divers parts of that we now call England, several Kingdomes, extruding Vortigern's posterity, and their subjects, into the Western parts, where to this day they remain. And how can we but conje∣cture that of particular Customes of Law-government in their own Countrey, they made requisite use in this their part of the Island? What those were,* 1.1 until Christianity made some abolition, may best be observed out of Tacitus de moribus Germanorum; who relates divers of their Customes, and Rites Religious. But at inquisition of their Superstition we aim not; their profane Laws being chiefly proposed for Collection.

I. Rex vel Princeps (saith Tacitus, speaking of some of them, whose antique Reliques seem yet to continue in our Municipals) prout aetas cui∣que,* 1.2 prout nobilitas, prout decus bellorum, prout facundia est, audiuntur authoritate suadendi magis quam jubendi potestate: si displicuit sententia, fremitu aspernantur; sin placuit, frameas (of necessity you must here re∣member our Wapentakes) concutiunt.* 1.3 Honoratissimum assensûs genus est armis laudare.

II. Licet apud Concilium accusare quoque; & discrimen capitis inten∣dere. Distinctio poenarum ex delicto, proditores & transfugas arboribus suspendunt, ignavos & imbelles & corpore (Lipsius will have it torpore, and shews great reason for it,* 1.4 in love towards his own Countrey) infames coeno ac palude, injecta insuper crate mergunt. Diversitas suppli∣cii illuc respicit, tanquam scelera ostendi oporteat dum puniuntur, flagitia abscondi.

III. Levioribus delictis pro modo poenarune, equorum, pecorumque nu∣mero convicti multantur. Pars mulctae Regi vel civitati, pars ipsi qui vindicatur, vel propinquis ejus exolvitur.

IV. Eliguntur in iis Conciliis & Princeps, qui jura per pagos vicos∣que reddunt. Centeni singulis ex plebe Comites (which observe to sym∣bolize with our Hundreds) consilium simul & authoritas adsunt.

V. Nihil neque publicae neque privatae rei nisi armati agunt, sed arma sumere non ante cuiquam moris, quam civitas suffecturum probaverit. Tum in ipso Concilio vel principum aliquis, vel pater, vel propinquus, scuto fra∣meäque Juvenem ornant. Haec apud illos Toga, hic primus (here have you resemblance of our Knighting) juventae honos: ante hoc domus pars videntur, mox Reipublicae.* 1.5

VI. Insignis nobilitas aut magna patrum merita, principis dignationem etiam adolescentulis assignant. Note there the propagation of Gentry through true honour deserving vertue, to whose memory is dedica∣ted that worship, which is oft-times bestowed on unworthy Po∣sterity.

VII. Dotem non uxor marito, sed uxori maritus (I might compare this to our most ancient and then common Dower al huis d'esglise) offert.

VIII. To their religious Rites in Marriage-knots he adjoyns the punishment of her which violates her chosen bed.* 1.6 Accisis crinibus nudatam coram propinquis expellit domo maritus, ac per omnem vicum verbere agit.

IX. Publicatae pudicitiae (understand it of unmarried Wenches) nul∣la venia, non formâ, non aetate, non opibus maritum invenerit.

X. Sororum filiis idem apud avunculum, qui apud patrem honor.

XI. Haeredes, successoresque sui cuique liberi, & nullum testamentum:* 1.7 si liberi non sunt, proximus gradus in possessione fratres, patrui, avunculi; neither until 32 H. 8. had we any Lands devisable, except by special custome binding the Common-law.

XII. Suscipere tam inimicitias seu patris seu propinqui (our Northern deadly-feud offers it self here to be thought on) quam amicitias ne∣cesse est; Nec implacabiles durant. Luitur enim etiam homicidium certo armentorum ac pecorum numero (this interprets the were in the Saxon Laws of William Lambard) recipitque satisfactionem universa Domus.

XIII. Suam quisque Servus sedem, suos penateis regit. Frumenti mo∣dum dominus aut pecoris aut vestis ut colono injungit; & servus hacte∣nus paret.

Divers others of their Manners and Customes hath the same Au∣thor; but not any, which except these recited, I think may be fitly styled Law, or constituted Order of that Nation. But to be more par∣ticular,* 1.8 Adam of Breme will tell us out of Einhard of the Saxons (which gave chief denomination to such Germans as floated hither) thus;

XIV. Quatuor differentiis gens illa consistit, Nobilium scilicet & libe∣rorum, libertorumque atque servorum.

XV. Legibus firmatum ut nulla pars copulandis conjugiis propriae sortis terminos transferat; sed Nobilis nobilem ducat uxorem, & liber liberam, libertus conjungatur libertae, & servus Ancillae. Si vero quispiam horum sibi non congruentem, & genere praestantiorem duxerit uxorem, cum vitae suae damno componat.

XVI. Ejus gentis cum quâ bellandum fuit (this is by Tacitus in the same words repeated of the Germans) quoquo modo interceptum; cum ele∣cto popularium suorum patriis quemque armis committunt, & victoria hujus vel illius pro praejudicio accipitur.

XVII. Unto the times before Christianity among them was received, this is to be referred; The first Christian King Ethelbert of Kent, Inter

caetera (as Venerable Bede reporteth) bona,* 1.9 quae genti suae consulendo confe∣rebat, etiam decreta illi judiciorum juxta exempla Romanorum, cum consi∣lio sapientum instituit. Quae conscripta Anglorum sermone, hactenus, saith he, habentur & observantur ab eâ.

And very many Constitutions yet extant, written in the Saxon Tongue, are attributed to Ine, Alfred, Edward, Athelstan, Edmund, Edgar, Ethelred and Canutus or Knute, translated into Latine, and publi∣shed long since by William Lambard, a learned Gentleman, with the Laws of Edw. the Confessor,* 1.10 so called, non quod ille statuerit, saith one, sed quod observaverit; whereunto are joyned divers, with title of Wil∣liam the Conqueror, which being so there already, according to seve∣ral times in one Volume for that only purpose compiled, they only shall here be inserted, which as yet lie dispersed in the old Monuments of our Historians.

XVIII. Totius Angliae (of King Alured so writeth Ingulphus Abbot of Croyland) pagos & provincias in Comitatus primus omnium commu∣tavit, Comitatus in Centurias, i. e. Hundredas, & in decimas (as if he imitated Jethro Moses Father-in-law) id est,* 1.11 tythingas, divisit, ut om∣nis indigena legalis in aliquâ centuriâ & decimâ existeret.* 1.12 Et si quis suspectus de aliquo latrocinio, per suam Centuriam vel decuriam, vel con∣demnatus, vel * 1.13 invadiatus, poenam demeritam vel incurreret, vel vitaret. Praefectos verò provinciarum (qui antea Vicedomini) in duo officia divisit, i. e. in Judices, quos nunc Justiciarios vocamus, & in Vicecomites, qui ad∣huc idem nomen retinent.

* 1.14XIX. Of King Edgar, the Monk of Malmesbury writeth thus; Quia Compatriotae in tabernis convenientes, jamque temulenti pro modo bibendi contenderent, ipse clavos argenteos vasis affigi jussit, & dum metam suam quisque cognosceret, non plus subserviente verecundiâ, vel ipse appeteret, vel alium appetere cogeret. Constraint of such as were too indulgent to the desires of their sensual appetite by ingurgitation of brain-smoaking Liquors, was by the Greek Zaleucus (and so received a∣mong the Locrians) no less than capital.* 1.15 But which hath been al∣ways so far from this State, that until the third Session of the pre∣sent Parliament,* 1.16 not so much as any pecuniary mulct endeavoured to refrain that temporary and altogether voluntary madness.

* 1.17XX. Nulla (saith Ingulphus) electio Praelatorum erat merè libera & Canonica, sed omnes dignitates, tam Episcoporum quam Abbatum, per an∣nulum & baculum Regis Curia pro suâ complacentiâ conferebat.

XXI. Chirographa, until the Confessor's time, fidelium praesentium subscriptionibus, cùm crucibus aureis, aliisque sacris signaculis firma fu∣erunt.

XXII. Conferebantur primò (saith he, but I understand it of the Infancy of the Norman state) multa praedia nudo verbo absque scripto, vel chartâ; tantum cum Domini gladio, vel galea, vel cornu, vel cratere, & plurima tenementa cum calcari, cum strigili, cum arcu, & nonnulla cum sagittâ. This somewhat savours of Obertus Orto's form of investi∣ture in his Feudals,* 1.18 or his of this, and differs much from our strict Livery of Seisin, which regularly ought to be made with part of and upon the Land, by gift transferred. Not unworthy (in this place) of observation is that Charter of Cedwalla King of Sussex, (as among old Monuments of evidence belonging to the Arch-bishop of Canter∣bury I have seen) in the Year DCLXXXVII. made to Theodore

then Archbishop of certain Lands, with this subscription; Ad cumu∣lum autem Confirmationis, ego Cedwalla cespitem terrae praedictae super san∣ctum altare Salvatoris posui, & propriâ manu, pro ignorantia literarum, signum sanctae Crucis expressi, & subscripsi. The like hath Camden out of a Patent made by Withered King of Kent, to a Nunnery in the Isle of Thanet. But to that form of conveyance which Ingulphus speaks of, is thus added; Sed haec initio regni sui: posterioribus annis immutatus est iste modus.

The antiquity of deeming the Queen, both as Covert, and also a sole person, with such respective admittance, as is commonly a∣greed upon, and the Custome of Land-forfeiture upon Felony com∣mitted, are both referred to these times.* 1.19 The first proved by that learned Chief Justice Sir Edw. Coke, out of a Gift made by Aethel∣swith, Wife to King Burghred, to one Cuthwulfe her Servant DCCCLXVIII. The other from an Example by him published of one Ethesig, whose Lands were forfeited to King Ethelred, for felo∣niously stealing one Ethelwine's Swine.

Notes

• * 1.1

  De Germanis vid. plura a∣pu•• Ca••sarem lib. 6. d•• Bell. Gall. quae ve∣rò huc non proximè spe∣ctant.
• * 1.2

  Tacit. lib. de morib Germ.
• * 1.3

  Vide leges Ed. Confess. ap. Lamb.
• * 1.4

  Lips. in not. ad Tacit. ibid.
• * 1.5

  Haec debemus virtutibus, ut non praesentes solum illas, sed etiam ablatas è conspectu colamus. Se∣nec. lib. 4. de benefic. ca. 30.
• * 1.6

  Vide Episto∣lam Bonifacii ad Aethelbald.
• * 1.7

  Terre nient devisable.
• * 1.8

  Einhard ap. Adam. Bre∣mens. in histo. Eccles. cap. 5, & 6.
• * 1.9

  Bed. Eccles. hist. lib. 2. cap. 5.
• * 1.10

  Malmesb. de gest. Reg. lib. 2. cap. 11.
• * 1.11

  Gen. cap. 31.
• * 1.12

  Rotulus Win∣toniae.
• * 1.13

  al. absolutus.
• * 1.14

  Malmesb. lib. 2. de gest. reg. c. 8.
• * 1.15

  Athen. lib. 10. Deipnoloph.
• * 1.16

  Stat. 4 Jac. cap. 5.
• * 1.17

  Ingulph. hist. pag. 512. & 508.
• * 1.18

  Feud. lib. 2. tit.

  Chart. Archi∣ep. Cant. vide etiam Cam∣den. in Cantio pag. 240. & Chartam Ae∣thelulphi su∣per altare ob∣latam apud Ingulph. pag. 491.
• * 1.19

  In Praefat. ad lib. 6. Resp.