Tribal Custom in Anglo-Saxon Law: Being an Essay Supplemental to (1) 'The English Village Community', (2) 'The Tribal System in Wales'Seebohm, Frederic
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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
The churchyard is divided into four quarters for burial. Lendmen
shall be buried to the east and south-east of the church, under
the eaves-drop, if they have taken part in the building of the
church. But if they have not done that, they shall lie in the
burial place of a _bónde_. Next to them shall be buried _haulds_
and their children.
En nest kirkiu garðe, þá skall grafua hión manz, oc þá menn er
rekner ero at siofuar strandu oc hafua hárskurði norœna. En ef
maðr læggær man í frials-giæfua lego, sæckr vj aurum. En ef maðr
græfuer frials-giæfua í lœysinga lego, sæckr xij aurum. Græfuer
lœysingia í hauldmanz lego, sæckr iij mörkum.
And next to the churchyard wall shall be buried the servants
(thralls) of a man, and those who are cast upon the sea shore
and whose hair is cut in the Norwegian manner. If a man buries
a thrall in the burying-place of a frialsgiaf, he is liable to
pay 6 aurar. If a man buries a frialsgiaf in the burial-place of
a leysing, he is liable to pay 12 aurar. If he buries a leysing
in the burial-place of a hauld, he is liable to pay three marks.
(Borgarthing law 13.)
[Sidenote: The two classes of leysings or freedmen before and after
making ‘freedom ale.’]
Referring to the gradations of _rett_, it will be seen that there are
apparently two classes of leysings, whose social condition was next above
the thrall at the bottom of the ladder.
This was first made clear by Konrad von Maurer. The thrall who by
purchase or by gift had been made a ‘freedman’ (frials-giafi) had only
taken the first step towards even that limited amount of freedom which
belonged to the leysing. Another step had to be made good before he
became a full leysing. And the step was accomplished by the ceremony of
‘making his freedom ale.’
The leysing before ‘making his freedom ale’ was still so far the property
of his master that his children did not inherit his goods. They belonged
to his master.
Nú ero brœðr tveir fœdder upp ánauðgir at eins mannz, oc ero
þeir bæðe brœðr oc fostbrœðr, oc leysasc þeir undan drótne
sínum, oc firrasc eigi fóstr, eigu saman verc oc orco, þá kemr
hvartveggia þeirra til annars arfs. Börn þeirra koma eigi til,
nema þeir geri frælsis öl sitt.
If two brothers are brought up as thralls at one man’s house,
and are both brothers and foster brothers, and they are freed by
their master and continue in fosterage, and have their work and
employment together, then either of them inherits from the other.
_Their children do not inherit from them unless they make their
freedom ale._ (Gulathing, 65.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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