There are two valuable fragments on Mercian law. The first is as follows:-- _Be Merciscan Aðe_ _Of the Mercian Oath_ Twelf-hyndes mannes að forstent vi ceorla að forþam gif man þone twelf-hyndan man wrecan sceolde he bið full-wrecan on syx ceorlan ⁊ his wer-gyld bið six ceorla wer-gyld. A twelve-hyndeman’s oath stands for six ceorls’ oaths; because if a man should avenge a twelve-hyndeman he will be fully avenged on six ceorls and his wergild will be six ceorls’ wergilds. This fragment of Mercian law is preceded in the group of fragments ‘on oaths’ in Thorpe’s edition of the Laws by the following, which may or may not be of Mercian origin:-- [Sidenote: Mass-priest’s oath = that of the thane.] Mæsse-preostes að ⁊ woruld-þegenes is on Engla-laga geteald efen-dyre ⁊ for þam seofon ciric-hadan þe se mæsse-preost þurh Godes gif geþeah ꝥ he hæfde he bið þegen-rihtes wyrðe. A mass-priest’s oath and a secular thane’s are in English-law reckoned of equal value; and by reason of the seven church-degrees that the mass-priest through the grace of God has acquired he is worthy of thane-right. The other fragment of Mercian law is as follows:-- [Sidenote: Mercian wergelds.] Ceorles wer-gild is on Myrcna lage cc scill. Ðegnes wer-gild is syx swa micel ꝥ bið xii hund scill. Ðonne bið cynges anfeald wer-gild vi þegna wer be Myrcna lage ꝥ is xxx þusend sceatta ⁊ ꝥ bið ealles cxx punda. Swa micel is þæs wer-gildes on folces folc-rihtes be Myrcna lage. And for þam cyne-dome geborað oðer swilc to bote on cyne-gilde. Se wer gebirað magum ⁊ seo cyne-bot þam leodum. A ceorl’s wergeld is by Mercian law cc scillings. A thane’s wergeld is six times as much, _i.e._ xii hundred scillings. Then is a king’s simple wergeld vi thanes’ wer by Mercian law, _i.e._ xxx thousand sceatts, and that is altogether cxx pounds. So much is the wergeld in the people’s folkright by Mercian law. And for the ‘Cynedom’ there is due another such sum as _bot_ for _cyne-gild_. The wer belongs to the kindred and the cynebot to the people. The Mercian wergeld of both twy-hynde and twelve-hynde men is thus stated in scillings, as usual, and the king’s wergeld--six times the thane’s--would equal 7200 scillings. The Mercian scilling was 4_d._, and thus, as stated in the text, the king’s wergeld would equal exactly 120_l._ or 28,800 pence or sceatts (in round numbers 30,000 sceatts). This is useful as evidence that the sceatt of this Mercian wergeld was the silver penny of the Anglo-Saxon currency of 28·8 wheat-grains--_i.e._ of the _Sceatt series_--before Offa and Alfred, following the example of Charlemagne, superseded the ‘sceatt’ by the ‘penny’ of 32 wheat-grains. [Sidenote: Fragment of North People’s Law.]