And Wealisc-monnes weregild gif he beo to tham gewelegod ꝥ he hyred ⁊ eht age ⁊ þam cyng gafol gyldan mæg hit bið þon ccxx scill. Ac he ne bið butan to healf hyda gerysen þonne sie his were lxxx scill. (7) And a Wealisc-man’s wergeld if he be so enriched that he has family and goods (_hyred and eht_) and can pay the King’s gafol shall be ccxx scillings [? cxx]. And if he be risen but to half a hide, then shall his own wer be lxxx scillings. Gif he land næbbe ac bið freoh gyld mon lxx scill. (8) If he have no land but is free let him be paid for with lxx scillings. Now ‘hiwisc’ and ‘hyred’ both seem to mean _family_. In a roundabout indirect way ‘familia’ and _hide_ meant apparently very much the same thing, but as the word _hide_ is used in the same clause the more direct meaning may surely in this case be the important one. It is probable that these clauses are variations or fuller expressions of the tradition described in c. 32 of King Ine’s Laws, which is as follows:-- Gif Wylisc mon hæbbe hide londes his wer bið c. xx scill., gif he þonne hæbbe healfe lxxx scill., gif he nænig hæbbe lx scillinga. If a Wylisc man have a hide of land his ‘wer’ shall be cxx _s._, but if he have half a hide lxxx _s._, if he have none lx _s._ And the additional information amounts practically to this--that the possession of a hide seems to have been held generally equivalent to the possession of a family homestead--family and goods--enabling a man to pay the king’s gafol. It is when we pass on from these clauses to the next that fresh and welcome light seems to be gained upon the connection of the growth of a family and kindred with rise in status and social rank from a ceorlisc or twy-hynde position to that of the Gesithcund or twelve-hynde position. We are now no longer dealing with the Wylisc man but with the ordinary twy-hynde ceorl. And the mention of the payments in thrymsas reminds us that we are still looking at things from the North people’s point of view. The clauses in the two versions are as follows:-- [Sidenote: How under early custom a ceorl could rise into the twelve-hynde class.] ix. And gif ceorlisc man geþeo ꝥ he hæbbe v hida landes to cynges ut-ware ⁊ hine man ofslea forgilde man hine mid twam þusend þrimsa. ix. Gif ceorl sie gewelegod to þam þ [he] age v hyda landes ⁊ mon hine ofslea gyld hine mon mid ii .M. þrimsa. x. And þeah he geþeo ꝥ he hæbbe helm ⁊ byrnan ⁊ golde fæted sweord, gif he ꝥ land nafað he bið ceorl swa þeah. x. And gif he begytað ꝥ he hæbbe byrne ⁊ helm ⁊ ofergyldenene sweord, þeah þe he land næbbe he bið siðcund. xi. And gif his sunu ⁊ his sunu-sunu ꝥ geþeoð ꝥ hi swa micel landes habban siþþan bið se ofsprinc gesiðcundes cynnes be twam þusendum.