5. All the men of the family had equal rights; though there was one who was the head of the family, and who took the lead. The affairs of the family were discussed and settled at open-air meetings, called =folk-moots=. The spot where these were held was regarded as a sacred place. The tilling of their land, their marriages, their quarrels, their joining with other villages to make war or peace, were all settled at the folk-moot. The question whether the younger branches of the family should leave the village and go out and form another was fixed by the folk-moot also. In the course of time many such little swarms left the parent hive, and settled farther away. But they always looked back upon the old settlement as their home, and the head of the family as their chief. They were all of one _kin_, and in the course of time they began to look upon their chief as their king. 6. Now what was the nature of the old Saxon village settlement? In its general arrangement it was very like the old Pit-Dwellers' settlement. There was the open space where the men of the village met, the sacred mound where the folk-moot was held. The houses in which the family dwelt were placed close together, round the hut of the head of the family. Outside these was a paling of some sort, so that all the houses were within the enclosure, or "tun", as it was called; and here calves and other young stock were reared near the houses. Beyond the enclosure, or tun, was the open pasture-ground and the arable land, or land under cultivation. Beyond these would be the untouched forest-land, or open moorland. 7. Each man of the tun had a share in these lands; not to deal with as he liked, but to use according to the custom of his family. The arable land was divided into strips, and shared amongst the men. However many strips of land a man might have, he could not have them for all time. The strips were apparently chosen by lot, and changed from time to time, so that all had an equal chance of having the best land. In the same way the number of cattle a man might turn out to graze on the pasture-land was regulated. The folk-moot, or meeting of the people, was a very important assembly, and through it the little community was governed. 8. Such was the mode of life to which the Saxons who came to England had been used; but they were not nearly as free individually when they landed here as their ancestors had been. More and more power had come into the hands of the chief or king, and to him the people looked for protection and guidance. In times of war, or when the tribe was invading new lands, the power of the king increased. By the time, then, that the Saxon tribes began their conquest of England, they were very much under the rule of their chiefs or kings. The kings had rights and power over their followers, which had gradually grown up by long custom, and none of those followers ventured to dispute such rights and powers.