ANGLO-SAXON INSTITUTIONS

Anglo-Saxon methods of life and government

Anglo-Saxon methods of life and government had by the close of Eadgar's reign become so well established that we are able to describe them with a fair degree of accuracy. The tribal organization already discussed was the starting-point in the development of the later institutions, but great changes had already taken place. The king of the tribe had become the king of all England; the council of wise-men had risen steadily in importance as the royal power had increased; thegns, in the old time only personal attendants on the king, had become great territorial lords, taking the place of the old earls and gesithas; the old tribal kingdoms, having ceased to be the seats of separate clans, had become administrative districts or shires in the larger kingdoms; the sub-kings had often become ealdormen of the district, and the folkmot of the tribe had become the court of the shire; within the shire another division called the hundred had been growing more and more prominent; finally, the old land system and the old tribal customs had been modified, largely through the influence of the church.

The King

Most important of all these changes was the growth in the power of the king. In origin only the chief of a conquering war-band, the king had now become the permanent head of a great and settled people. He was elected by his great men sitting in council, but always from a particular family, whose hereditary right to furnish kings for the tribe was based on descent from the gods. As early as the time of Alfred, however, consecration by the church was looked upon as adding to the sanctity of the royal title and person.

The king's powers were far from absolute, and his special rights, though constantly increasing, were not at this time very clearly defined. He was first and foremost a warrior, the head of the people in arms, and conquest had been up to this time one of the most important aspects of Anglo-Saxon life. As a law-maker, whether in writing down the old laws or in making new ones, he generally acted with his chief advisers, archbishops and bishops, thegns and other prominent men, composing the witan. Of these laws, written in Anglo-Saxon, many collections still exist. As judge, the king held no court and had little to do with the execution of justice, though he sometimes acted as an arbiter. Two kings at least, Alfred and Eadgar, seem to have interfered when a freeman could not obtain justice in a lower court.

As time went on, however, the king came to be considered the source of justice, and crimes or breaches of the peace came to be looked upon especially as an offence against him. This idea of the peace as the king's peace instead of the folk's peace, though it did not make the king a judge any more than he had been before, increased men's respect for him, and caused the laws that he issued to be obeyed more readily. As head of his people and guardian of the peace, he took portions of all fines imposed by the courts on all persons who deserted the army or were guilty of contempt of court or other petty offences. He also received portions of all property forfeited for treason, many tolls from markets, fairs, and other trading privileges, as well as dues for the use of harbors and navigable rivers. From these revenues, supplemented by certain yearly supplies of food sent to him by his people, and from the proceeds of the large holdings of land that he possessed in different parts of his kingdom, the king was expected to live. But in spite of all these rights and privileges the Anglo-Saxon king can hardly be called a ruler in the later sense of the word. He had no direct control over local affairs, which were largely regulated either by local custom or by the courts of the hundred and the shire.

The Witan

There is no evidence to show that the king continued to gather his people about him, as he had done in the earliest days. The last possible trace of this custom is in the "great gathering of God's servants," who with the witan sanctioned the adoption of Ine's laws. Only the wise-men, the witan, continued to meet with the king. This body was made up of those only whom the king desired to summon, members of the royal family and others close to the king, high officials in the church, prominent thegns, ealdormen, and others whom the king appointed to administer the kingdom. These men met whenever the king had need of them, usually three or four times a year. At these meetings the king and witan issued the laws, as we know from the prefaces to the codes of Ine and others ; but that neither king nor witan had much power to enforce these laws is evident from the repetition of the same law in the codes of several kings.

Other powers, nowhere defined in Anglo-Saxon literature, may be inferred from the few instances of their use. There are many instances to show that the witan. could elect the king, but none to show that they could depose him. Alfred and his witan made peace with Guthrum ; but no mention is made of the witan, when, a few years later, Eadmund made a similar peace. A little later, in the tenth century, we find ,Ethelred and the witan entering into a peace with Olaf and the Danish army; levying one tax for the purpose of buying off the Danes (Danegeld) and another for building ships (shipgeld), the first taxes, properly so called, in English history. During the ninth and tenth centuries the king generally acted with the advice of his witan when he made a will,' or when he granted to church or thegn any of his royal claims upon the lands of his subjects, though afterwards the witan did nothing more than sign the deed as witnesses.

The king and the witan on a very few occasions heard cases not dealt with in the courts of the shire and the hundred, though generally the local courts were expected to settle all disputes and difficulties by themselves. In feuds between kinsmen, arising from murder, the witan were expected to see that justice was done and recompense made, if possible. In conclusion, it may be said that the witan did not act without the cooperation of the king, nor the king without the advice and consent of the witan.