Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'Seebohm, Frederic
History
Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'
Seebohm, Frederic
Anglo-Saxons; Law, Anglo-Saxon; Law, Medieval; Tribes -- Great Britain
(3) Composition of a _litus_, of which }
two thirds pertains to the } 2 lbs. 9 oz.
lord, one third to his kinsman }
(4) Composition of a _servus_ 1 lb. 4½ oz.
There can, I think, be no doubt that the libræ of this clause are silver
pounds, and further, that as they are stated to be pounds ‘per denarios
veteres’ they must be pounds of Merovingian and not of Carlovingian
weight.
[Sidenote: These silver values equal to the gold ones at the Norse ratio
1:8.]
The pounds of this statement are therefore Roman pounds, of 240
Merovingian pence. Let us compare then the wergeld of the liber of 5½
such pounds of silver with the wergeld of the liber as stated in Tit.
I., which we saw was equivalent to one mark of gold. Following the
Scandinavian ratio of 1:8, the mark of 8 ounces of gold would equal 64
ounces of silver--_i.e._ 5⅛ pounds instead of 5½. The silver wergeld of
the nobilis would equal 10⅔ pounds instead of 11. The reckoning is rough,
but near enough to justify the conclusion that what was aimed at was the
nearest even pound of silver, and that therefore the wergeld of the one
statement is the equivalent of the wergeld of the other statement.
At the same time the fact of the reckoning being throughout in Roman,
_i.e._ Merovingian pounds, and not in those of Charlemagne’s _nova
moneta_, is instructive. It shows that this clause belongs to the period
during which the silver currency was pushing its way into Frisia. A
reckoning in silver had become necessary, although, as we happen to know,
the Frisians had a special liking for gold. They continued to coin gold
much longer than the Franks, and some years later than the date of the
laws. The Frisians were in close contact with the mint at Duurstede,
which was in fact the commercial metropolis of the North at the date of
the laws. The mint at Duurstede continued to coin gold coins till the
city was destroyed by the ravages of the Northmen in A.D. 837, and it was
from these Duurstede Frisian coins that the types were taken of the first
Scandinavian coinage.[160] In the meantime the close connection between
Frisia and the Scandinavian district is quite sufficient to account for
the Scandinavian ratio of 1:8 being the one used in the translation
of the gold wergeld of the district next to the Weser into a silver
equivalent.
[Sidenote: The wergelds in the local gold solidi.]
Let us now at last translate the wergelds of the three Frisian districts,
as stated in Tit. I. in gold solidi of three tremisses, back again into
what they must have been when reckoned in the local solidi. If originally
they were reckoned in these local solidi the result should be in even
numbers.
_Between the Laubach and the Weser._
Nobilis (9216 w.g.) = 144 solidi of 2 tremisses or 2 gold marks.
Liber (4608 w.g.) = 72 ” or 1 gold mark.
Litus (2304 w.g.) = 36 ” or ½ a gold mark.
_Between the Laubach and the Fli._
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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