Cod. Dipl. Nos. 374. (cf. 1002). “Et tres [mansas] in loco qui Cearn nuncupatur ad coquendam salis copiam.” In 854, Æðelwulf mentions _salinaria_ in a grant to the same place. Cod. Dipl. No. 1051. ----- The king in all these cases had possessed a right to levy certain dues at the pans or the pit’s mouth, upon the waggons as they stood, and upon the load being placed in them: these dues were respectively called the wǽnscilling and seámpending, literally _wainshilling_ and _loadpenny_, and were entirely independent of the rent which might be reserved by the landlord for the use of the ground, whether he were the king or a private person. And immunity from these dues might also be granted by the crown, and was so granted. In 884, Æðelred, duke of Mercia, who acted as a viceroy in that new portion of Ælfred’s kingdom, and exercised therein all the royal rights as fully as any king did in his own territories, gave Æðelwulf five híds at Humbleton, and licence to have six salt-pans, free from all the dues of king, duke or public officer, but still reserving the rights of the landlord[126]. But the same prince, about the same period, when conferring various royalties upon the cathedral of Worcester, retained the king’s dues at the pans in Saltwíc[127]. ----- Footnote 126: Cod. Dipl. No. 1066. “Ego Æðelred, divina largiente gratia principatu et dominio gentis Merciorum subfultus, donatione trado Æðelwulfo terrain quinque manentium in loco qui dicitur Hymeltun ... salisque coctionibus, id est, sex vascula possint praeparari salva libertate, sine aliquo tributo dominatoris gentis praedictae, sive ducum, iudicumve et praesidum, id est statione sive inoneratione plaustrorum, nisi solo illi qui huic praedictae terrae Hymeltune dominus existat ... ut haec traditio, sive in terra praedicta, sive in vico salis, absque omni censu atque tributo perpetualiter libera permaneat.” Footnote 127: Cod. Dipl. No. 1075. “Bútan ðæt se wægnscilling and se seámpending gonge tó ðæs cyninges handa, swá he ealning dyde æt Saltwíc:” except that the wainshilling and loadpenny (“statio et inoneratio plaustrorum”) shall go to the king’s hand, as they always did, at Saltwíc. ----- The peculiar qualities of salt, which make it a necessary of life to man, have always given a special character to the springs and soils which contain it. The pagan Germans considered the salt-springs holy, and waged wars of extermination for their possession[128]; and it is not improbable that they may generally have belonged to the exclusive property of the priesthood. If so, we can readily understand how, upon the introduction of Christianity, they would naturally pass into the hands of the king: and this seems to throw light upon the origin of this royalty, which Eichhorn himself looks upon as difficult of explanation[129]. Many of the royal rights were unquestionably inherited from the pagan priesthood. ----- Footnote 128: