A passage already cited in this chapter gives the wergylds of the freeman and noble in Wessex as respectively two hundred and twelve hundred scillingas, whence those classes are called twýhynde and twelfhynde: these denominations correspond to the old and usual ceorl and eorl; and as the original expression for all classes of society was, _be it churl, be it earl_, Cnut could use as perfectly equivalent, _be it twýhynde, be it twelfhynde_[521]. But in Wessex a third class is mentioned, whose wergyld was half that of the twelfhynde, and three times that of the ceorl: they are called sixhynde, men of six hundred. It is difficult to say whether they are the original nobles, three times as valuable as the freeman, and whether the twelfhynde are an exclusive class of magnates, raised above them during the progressive development of the royal power; or whether, on the contrary, the twelfhynde and twýhynde are the original divisions, and the sixhynde a middle class of ministerials, which sprang up when ceorls had entered the service of the crown, and thus became raised above their fellow freemen. I incline to the latter opinion, partly from the apparent absence of this sixhynde class in Mercia, partly from the apposition noticed above, and the omission of the sixhynde altogether from the passage in Eádweard’s law, which regulates the payments for the other two classes. There is no statement of a royal wergyld in Wessex, but from what has been said of the composition made for Múl, it may be inferred that it was thirty thousand sceattas or 120 pounds, like that of Mercia. The total inconsistency of these several values will be apparent if we arrange them tabularly: ┌───────────────┬────────────┬──────────┬──────────┬────────── │ │ Northumb.│ Mercia.│ Wessex.│ Kent. ├───────────────┼────────────┼──────────┼──────────┼────────── │ │ þrymsas.│ Scil.│ Scil.│ Scil. │King │ 15000│ 7200│ 7200│ 1500 │ │ +15000│ +7200│ +7200│ +1500 │Archbishop │ 15000│ │ │ │Æðeling │ 15000│ │ │ │Bishop │ 8000│ 1200│ 1200│ 360 │Ealdorman │ 8000│ 1200│ 1200│ 360 │Hold │ 4000│ │ 600│ │Heáhgeréfa │ 4000│ │ 600│ │Priest │ 2000│ │ 600│ │Þegen │ 2000│ │ 600│ │Freeman │ 266│ 200│ 200│ 180 └───────────────┴────────────┴──────────┴──────────┴────────── If these data be accurate, we must conclude that the ratio of the king and noble to the ceorl in the different states varied as follows: