xi. And gif his sunu ⁊ þæs sun-sunu ꝥ begyten ꝥ he swa micel landes habbað sien hiora after-gengas þæs siðcunda[n] cynnes ⁊ gyld þam mon mid ii .M. þrimsa. xii. And gif hi ꝥ nabbað ne to þam geþeon ne magan gilde man cirlisce. And they may be translated thus:-- 9. And if a ceorlish man thrive so that he have v hides of land to the king’s _utware_ and any one slay him, let him be paid for with 2000 thrymsas.[240] 9. If a ceorl be enriched to that degree that he have 5 hides of land to the king’s utware and any one slay him, let him be paid for with 2000 thrymsas. 10. And though he thrive so that he have a helm and coat of mail, and a sword ornamented with gold, if he have not that land he is nevertheless a ceorl. 10. And if he acquire so that he have a coat of mail and a helmet and an overgilded sword, if he have not that land he is [? not] sithcund. 11. And if his son and his son’s son so thrive that they have so much land, afterwards the offspring shall be of gesithcund race at 2000 (thrymsas). 11. And if his son and the son’s son acquire that they have so much land, let their successors be of the sithcund kin and let them be paid for with 2000 thrymsas. 12. And if they have not that nor to that can thrive, let them be paid for as ceorlish. These passages are very important, as the most direct evidence we possess of the way in which under early Anglo-Saxon custom families became _gesithcund_ by the gradual growth of a kindred whose kinsmen, like the odal-men of the Norse laws, could reckon four generations in succession of sufficient landholding. The evidence is all the more interesting because it seems to come from the point of view of the Norse or Danish invaders making inquiry respecting English tradition and recording what had once been the custom of the conquered districts. [Sidenote: Another precious fragment, with further information.] The same remark applies equally to another of these valuable fragments--‘Of people’s ranks and law.’ It, too, seems to look back and to record what once had been the custom of the conquered people. Hit wæs hwilum on Engla lagum ꝥ leod ⁊ lagu for be geþincðum ⁊ þa wæron [þeod-] witan weorðscipes wyrðe ælc be his mæðe, eorl ⁊ ceorl, þegen ⁊ þeoden. 1. It was whilom, in the laws of the English, that people and law went by ranks, and then were the Witan of worship worthy each according to his condition, eorl and ceorl, thegen and theoden. These are the phrases of a writer looking back with regret upon ancient custom which to him is past or passing away. After this follow clauses in one of which the word _hyrede_ and the phrase ‘having so many hides to the king’s _utware_’ again occur, words that seem to suggest that this fragment, while describing ancient English custom, hails from a somewhat similar source as the ‘North People’s Law.’